Pieces of the Past
by Turtlegirl13
Summary: *SEQUEL TO EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED* Just as things started to settle with the Hamato family, chaos hits them again. What happens when the family is thrown into a break of time? Will these new friends of Alexa destroy her and Leo's marriage? Not great at summaries guys. XP
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Look what I finished! Anyone who is new, this is a sequel and the first story is very important if you want to understand this story. "Expect the Unexpected" is the first story, so check it! Anyway, I'm really excited about this story. I spent a lot of time planning and writing, even did a little collaboration with Ciel0307 (check out his stuff). For all of the Bailey Stark fans, I'm working on the next story and it should be out soon. Recently, I've moved and I had to change how I watched my movies...yeah, fun. Also, I have about four other stories in the process of finishing, so look for that. Okay, I'll stop talking. Without further due, "Pieces of the Past".**

Chapter 1

"We're back!" Kiyo shouted into the lair as she tossed her backpack onto the kitchen table, but had a baby carrier in her hand. "Mom, can you help me with my project."

I smiled and walked over. This was a "baby simulator" for Kiyomi's children class. Basically the student was given a robot baby to take care of. It would cry if it needs to be fed, changed, or just wants some attention. I was in that class before I met the turtles, and from what I learned, it was a great class.

"Sure, sweetie." I walked over as she and her brothers turned off their bracelets.

"Oh, mom, our show is in May." Yasuo walked over to me.

The triplets got my musical gene and auditioned for the school's music group class. It allowed beginning music groups to get their start and gain some comfort on the stage. They also did what I did. They are an acoustic group. Yasuo plays the piano, Kiyomi sings, and Yoshi plays guitar and does a little singing.

"What songs are you all doing?" Hope skipped into the kitchen.

Yoshi answered. "Hmm, we were thinking about 'Fight Song' by Rachel Platton, 'Aftermath' by Rascal Flatts, 'Footloose' the cover Blake Shelton did, and 'Black Betty' by Big City Rock. Yasuo wanted that song. Oh and we have to have one TV show theme song so we picked Leonardo and his brothers' song."

Hope scrunched her eyebrows. "You mean daddy?"

"No, Hopie, you know that cartoon we watched, and those mousers attacked." Kiyo explained.

"Oh yeah!" She smiled.

"Well that's quite the set list." Leo joined us in the kitchen.

Yasuo smiled. "Oh yeah, and we have a lot of work to do. Can we practice a little before training?"

Leo looked at me then back at Ya-ya. "After you're done with your other homework."

Ya-ya pouted. "Fiiinnne!"

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's get started."

"No, it's fine. I'm gonna ask Uncle Donnie, its math homework." He shrugged.

"Good idea." I laughed. I am not a math genius. As Ya-ya and Yoshi ran off to Donnie for help, Kiyomi stood in front of the baby with an almost worried face. "Kiyo, you okay?"

"Huh?" Her head snapped in my direction. "Oh, uh, yeah."

She was just like me at times. I waved her over and led her to her room. Kiyo sat on her bed with the baby on the floor in its carrier, and I shut the door behind me. I went over and sat on her blue comforter. She looked like she was trying to collect her thoughts, so I waited. Of course, Kiyo did what I would do, she looked at me and hid all of her worry and panic. I sighed.

"What's going on?"

She shook her head.

"Kiyo."

"I'm just stressed out about school, and the Dragons. I have so many projects to do." She shrugged. "I'll get over it."

"I could help you with some of your assignments, you know?" I smiled.

"Yeah, I know, but it also gives me an excuse to not go to training."

So not like her, she loves training. "How about your powers, have you been practicing those exercises your father told you to do."

She lowered her eyes. "No."

"And why not?"

"Because I still get nervous using my power." Kiyo admitted.

"That's what those exercises are for, Kiyomi. It's to make you comfortable channeling a small spark. You may have trouble seeing it, but your power is incredible. When you were little you used to be able to control lit candles in your sleep." I put my arm around her. "Think about this, fire can be used as a shield, a light to brighten the darkness, warmth on a cold day." I brushed her brown hair out of her eyes that matched mine. "You are the source of survival out of your brothers."

Kiyomi pushed away from me and tried to hide her smile. "Mom, don't get all poetic on me."

"That's what I'm here for, Kiyomi."

Out of nowhere, Kiyo's cheek started getting red. Then she sulked out of the room. Yasuo! He out of the three of them know that using their powers for their own personal use is against the rules! There would be too many fights and arguments. Plus, there are too many of us in the lair.

"Yasuo!" Kiyomi screeched.

"Hey what's wit da screaming?" Raph walked into the living room where Yoshi was holding Kiyomi back. "Oh boy."

"Ask him!" Kiyo shouted at Yasuo who was calmly standing in front of her.

"Yasuo, what's going on?" Leo stepped next to the duo with his arms crossed.

"He was-"

"Kiyomi, I was asking your brother." Leo interrupted her. "Yasuo, answer. Now."

Yasuo flinched, he knew he was in for it. "Kiyomi was talking to mom, and I might've popped in."

"Yasuo, how many times have me and your mom told you cannot use your powers outside of training or patrol. Especially with your powers Yasuo, it's invading privacy." Leo said.

Yasuo frowned. "I'm sorry, dad," he looked at Kiyomi, "sorry, Kiyo."

"Kiyomi." Leo waited for Kiyomi.

"It's okay." She huffed before turning on her heel and going back into her room.

"Yasuo, dojo. Twenty flips." Leo kept his composure as Yasuo shuffled by. After he was in the dojo, Leo slid his hand down his face. "Kids."

I laughed. "You're telling me."

"Aunt Lexa, can we play a game?" Clem and Lee skipped up to me.

I giggled. "Sure."

For a majority of the day, I spent hanging out with the kids while trying to get some laundry done with Sam. Aurora was in Donnie's lab checking on the Foot and Purple Dragon. They were laying low, but there were instances here and there. Layla was with the kids and the triplets were in training and Raph was co-training them. Leo was the "head Sensei", but Raph helped to give pointers where it was needed. With all of the turtles and people in the lair, the chaos was controlled…well sort of.

"Daddy! RJ is being mean!" Kayden screamed.

Oh yes, this was the life.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

This week with Kiyomi's project was hectic. All of the younger kids wanted to play with the baby, and her brothers were threatening to break it. On top of that, Donnie has been getting cranky because he lost the PD's (Purple Dragons) tail. Even Aurora couldn't get the usually level-headed turtle to relax. We were all trying to pitch in and yank Don out of his "Raph behavior", but we all got the same response. So Leo was now taking a crack at it. I was really hoping he would get through to him. While I waited, Layla and I were watching Ellie, Don's daughter. The rest of the kids were at school, so the two of us could handle Don's outbursts.

"I hope Leo can snap Don out of this. It's weird having two Raphs." Layla shrugged.

I smiled. "What you can't fight off two Raphs for Mikey's sake?"

She rolled her eyes. "Ha. Ha. Funny, but really we need Donatello back."

As she said that, Donnie came shuffling on by towards the kitchen with his coffee mug in his hand. I looked at Layla with a shocked look. This is the first time in a while that he's been out of the lair without snapping. Ellie instantly started to fuss and reach for Donnie. Now, I'm not going to keep the kid waiting, so I carried her off towards the kitchen as Donnie was filling up his mug. Ellie cooed at him, making him turn and smile at her. He yawned.

"Hi, El." He set his mug down to take her from me before picking up his mug again. "Thanks for watching her, now," Another yawn escaped him, "we're due for a nap."

I laughed and shook my head as he smiled at Ellie while he walked to his room. Finally, the Brainiac sleeps! I wonder what Leo did to change his mind. My eyes looked around for my favorite turtle and caught him as he glided to the dojo. Mikey was next to him with a big smile on his face, I jogged up to the two.

"Hey, dudette, you training today?"

"Hey, Mikey, and I plan on doing so." I smiled, then intertwined my hand with Leo's. "How'd you get grumpy-shell to stop acting like Raph?"

He merely shrugged. "I'm just good like that."

I shoved him with a laugh. "God, you sound like Mikey."

"Hey!" Mikey whined with a dramatic pout.

"You know we love you, Goofball." I laughed at Mikey.

He stuck his tongue out at me. "You better!"

"Seriously, Leo, what'd you do?" I shook his arm, but stopped abruptly. "You didn't channel your inner Raph, did you?"

"No," He looked at me, "I just said he should bond with Ellie and not shout so much around her. She might end up being afraid of him or just distant."

"Really? That's it? That's all it took?" I asked him as he nodded after every question. "Someone just had to state the obvious."

"Yeah." Leo nodded as we entered the dojo and started stretching.

I face palmed myself. "Why didn't we just start with that?"

Leo smirked and shrugged. "I don't know."

Mikey gasped. "Leonardo, doesn't know." His hands shot up over his head. "Somebody call the police, the FBI, CIA, Hamato Leonardo doesn't know something!"

Leo put Mikey in a head lock and rubbed his knuckle on his head. "Alright, alright, I get the point."

Mikey pulled out of the head lock before jumping in front of me. "Lexa, you, me, spar, now."

I just crossed my arms. Did Leo cut off the only air going to his head?

"Unless you're scared." Mikey taunted.

I scoffed. "Oh yeah, Mikey, terrified. Apparently, you're scarier than an angry Raph..." I paused and shook my head, "no, that's funny."

He spun his nunchuck. "Even if I am the Battle Nexus Champion!"

"Mikey, that wasn't you." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." I laughed as he pouted. "That was Michelangelo. Remember him?"

Mikey crossed his arms. "Fine."

Leo patted Mikey shell before leading him further into the dojo. "Come on, little brother, show me all of the skills of the 'Battle Nexus Champion' I don't want Alexa hurting you. I have to give you an evaluation to be sure your skill is high enough."

Mikey snapped into a fighting stance and smirked. "Dude you're going to wish you never said that."

"Please do." Leo unsheathed his sword.

With a battle cry, Mikey's chucks were flying at the speed of light. This didn't seem to faze Leo as he swiftly dodged the attacks without any use of his swords.

"You gotta do better than that Mikey." Leo taunted as he shoved Mikey. "This can't possibly be the work of the 'Battle Nexus Champion'."

Mikey recovered and stopped. "Bro, I'm only warming up."

The duo continued their match, blades colliding with chains as they fired attack after attack. I had to admit Mikey's focus has definitely improved, but it was probably because he was trying to prove a point. Either way, it wasn't going to be enough if he wanted to beat his leader in blue. With one smooth movement Mikey was thrown into the far wall. Don't worry, we had the walls equipped with that safe padding that jungle gyms have for little kids. Trust me when I tell you, we didn't waste any money buying them. I can't tell you how many times Mikey's face has collided with those things.

"Ow, geez, Leo. Why'd you have to throw me so hard?" Mikey groaned as he rolled his shoulder.

"To teach you a lesson."

"I think you have me confused with the kids." Mikey said.

"Eh, Lexa!" Raph shouted, interrupting our sparring. "Dere's parent-teacher meetings tonight at da high school. Kiyo forgot ta tell ya."

"Crap," I mumbled, "Thanks Raph!" I shouted to him and rubbed my face. "Okay, I'm gonna go get ready then."

I left the dojo, kind of bummed. It's been a while since I've sparred with the guys, and I missed it. Sighing, I turned on my bracelet, the one that made me appear human, and got changed. I still stuck with pretty much the same style, jeans, t-shirt, and boots. As I finished getting ready, I started to think. It was going to be a bit weird going back to the school, especially with Ms. Barnes. She hated me and now she had something to judge me about. If she starts harassing Kiyomi about all of that teen pregnancy crap, she's going down. I could get Leo to go and talk to her. Lucky enough, the triplets stayed at school to get some practice in for their class, so we were meeting them there.

Once Leo and I were ready, we went through the portal and drove to the school. We weren't going meet with the triplets until later, so I headed towards Yoshi's English class while Leo went to Kiyomi's children class. Hopefully they meet us in front of one of their classes, I really didn't feel like searching around the school for them.

As I strolled down the halls, I could see my younger self walking. My head held high, but in my eyes anxiety and doubt clouded my mind. I always fell for the wrong guys and fell too hard too. It wasn't until this one guy tried to move through the relationship too quickly that I didn't want to get myself out there again…Shaking my head, the thought fell me, and I entered Yoshi's class. His teacher Mrs. Moffhan, was tall with short dark hair. She gave me a friendly smile. She was so judging me, right now.

"Mrs. Hamato, it's a pleasure to meet you." She shook my hand.

"Likewise." I returned the gesture.

As soon as we got situated she started to gush about how polite Yoshi is and how great at English he is. Damn right, if that boy ever bad mouthed a teacher, I'll have his shell for it. Before I knew it we were leaving the classroom. Yoshi was leaning against the wall with a bored look on his face, but jumped when he saw me.

"So what'd she say?" Yoshi asked as he held my hand, smiling.

I smiled. I was always close to my mom and held her hand at parent-teacher conferences or if I was just walking around with her. "You're her star student."

Yoshi beamed with pride.

"Alexa?"

I turned my head towards where my name was called and froze. "TJ?"

He smiled and came over to hug me. "How have you been? What are you doing here?"

Hey I could be asking him the same question, but it was really great to see him. He was one of my best friends when I was attending school here. Everyone thought we should go out, but that was thrown out the window. We were good friends and I didn't want to ruin that. Plus, that's what people did with everyone.

"I've been great," I put my hand on Yoshi's shoulder, "and I'm here with my kids."

TJ looked at Yoshi and smiled. "What grade are you in, boy?" He said in an old country accent. I laughed, we all said he should've been an actor.

"I'm a sophomore, sir." Yoshi answered respectfully.

TJ's smile faded and glanced over to me again. "That's when you disappeared."

I nodded.

"Mom, I'm gonna go find dad." Yoshi told me, picking up that this wasn't the conversation he needs to listen to.

"He's with your brother in north campus." I told him and he nodded before walking away.

"It was nice meeting you…uh…"

"Yoshi."

TJ nodded.

As Yoshi left, TJ scratched the back of his neck and sighed heavily. "What happened?"

"With?"

"You disappearing for sixteen fucking years." He wasn't mad, just has a colorful vocabulary. "You know fall from a tree, leave school, come back for a day, and disappear for multiple years." He said.

I shrugged. What could I tell him? "It's complicated."

"How so?"

"I can't tell you." I really wanted to because he was an amazing friend to me, but I can't.

' _Mom, you okay?'_

I smiled slightly at Yasuo's voice. ' _Yes, sweetheart, thank you.'_

"Okay." TJ shrugged and a short silence covered us. "So two kids, huh?"

"Plus two." I shrugged.

"Four!"

"A set of triplets and my youngest daughter's nine."

"A teen mom to triplets." TJ shook his head.

"My husband has three brothers and they pitched in to help, so it wasn't too bad." I shrugged.

"You're married too?" He chuckled. "Okay, we have a lot of catching up to do."

I nodded as Kiyomi ran towards us. Her face was frantic.

"Mom," She turned to TJ, "hi," then back to me, "we gotta go now!"

I scribbled down my number on a piece of paper and gave it to TJ. "Give me a call and we'll catch up."

"Come on!" Kiyomi yanked on my arm as I ran with her. I hope everything was okay.

 **A/N: So…? You like? No? Constructive criticism needed.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What happened?" I asked as we piled into the truck.

"We're trying to figure that out. All I got was an SOS alert from the lair." Leo's jaw clenched as he sped toward the house. "Yasuo, can you reach anyone?"

I turned in my seat and looked at my son, his brows were pulled together as he focused. He let out a grunting sound minutes later and shook his head.

"Something's blocking me." His eyes opened for a second before he went at trying again.

"They could be in the safe house. Uncle Don and I put a shield up to make sure anyone on the inside wouldn't be detected. It's supposed to make them invisible or rather a speck of dust." Yoshi said next to Yasuo. "Of course, Uncle Donnie or I would get alerted that the safe house was in use so none of the younger kids don't get trapped in there, but it won't if one of us opens it. Unless he got the message."

My fingers messaged my temples as a headache started to creep its way up. "We'll have to see when we get home."

"Then what?" Kiyo snapped. "What if find them gone, or worse!? We can't just sit back and wait for something else to happen."

"Kiyomi, that's not what we're going to do. We'll be trying to figure out a way to save our family, okay?" Leo gave her a stern look as we pulled up to the house and went through the portal.

We all went through, and even before we were there, we could all feel that something was off. As we arrived, the lair was destroyed. Furniture was thrown, torn, and covered in rubble. Some of the lights were flickering and dust clouded the air. Someone took them.

"Oh god…" I breathed as we hurried ourselves. We searched the rubble to make sure no one was underneath.

Luckily, there wasn't anyone hurt, but bad news, no one was here.

"The safe house." Yasuo ran into the lab with Yoshi right behind him. We all followed, crossing our fingers that they were all in there. Leo hovered over Yoshi as his hands scattered over the keyboards, before finally the hidden door opened. Leo rushed inside.

"Daddy!"

Leo came back out with Hope and RJ. Hope reached for me with tears staining her face. I took her from Leo.

"Hopie, honey, where is everyone?" Leo asked her gently, as he wiped the tears away.

"I don't know," She sobbed, "it's just me and RJ."

I looked at Kiyo who was now holding RJ. He was crying quietly. Kiyomi was trying her best to comfort him and eventually stopped.

"We were getting ready for dinner…the wall e-exploded a-and there were these ninjas." She rubbed her blue eyes. "Uncle Mikey told us to go find Uncle Donnie. Uncle Don and Aunt Layla, and some of the others were fighting. I think Aunt Sammie was trying to get the twins and Ellie, but I don't know." Her lower lip trembled. "There was a lot of shouting, and I ran into RJ. Together we got into here and no one followed. The door shut and everything was quiet." She looked up at us. "Who took our family?"

"We're gonna figure that out, Hope. We'll get them back." I told her as I hugged her tightly.

"Let's go to your parents' house, just in case." Leo suggested.

We nodded and headed back to my parents' home. We didn't take much with us as we went through the portal and shut it down. That always got me nervous because there's always that chance it wouldn't open again. I shoved the thought away and got RJ and Hope settled down to sleep in the family room. Of course, this ended up with a big argument. They were both scared and didn't want to sleep. Hell, I didn't blame them. If I went through that at their age, I wouldn't want to go to sleep either.

"I am not sleeping until we have everyone back." Kiyomi hissed.

"Yeah, we can help." Yoshi added.

"We know you can, but you can't if you are exhausted." Leo countered.

As Yoshi and Kiyomi continued to argue, I noticed Yasuo hasn't said anything yet. Usually he'll be blurting out different plans or trying to get his brother and sister to stop whatever they were doing. I shifted over to him.

"Ya-ya?"

His hand went up and made me stop talking. Yasuo's eyes were jumping around everywhere. "I can see them…the ones who attacked…what Hopie saw. She's trying to show me what happened."

Quickly, I grabbed some paper and a pencil, shoving them into his hands. Yasuo just started this. He was able to go so deep into someone's mind that he can pick out memories. Once the pencil was in his hand he started sketching. The pencil scribbled and danced around the paper at an incredible speed. Lucky for us, Yasuo was an amazing artist, so when he would show us the picture, it'll be easy to say what it is. Suddenly, he stopped drawing and brushed the back of his hand across the paper where I guess he erased. He turned the picture towards me and Leo and I tensed up. It was Phil's and Bishop's team.

"What are we going to do?" Kiyo shouted.

"Kiyomi, hush." Leo snapped and motioned upstairs.

"Nana and Papa are away and," She pointed at the family room, "they aren't sleeping." She crossed her arms. "We have to go look for them. We can't stay here."

"She's right." Yoshi nodded. "They might've seen the portal. That kind of technology will be of interest to them. Plus, Uncle Don, Papa, and I whipped up something else for emergencies."

"What?" I asked.

"Get Hope and RJ. It's away from here hidden from the house."

"How much farther?" I asked as I held Hope's hand and guide her through the rough terrain of the woods.

"We're almost there." His head turned to a tree with a symbol carved into it and turned.

As I past I noticed it was a Japanese symbol. Honestly, I had no idea what it meant. Good thing we were in our natural forms, we're more comfortable and the younger kids didn't feel we had to hide. Well, other than me, I didn't have a preference.

We moved deeper and deeper into the dark woods and finally stopped. There was a large moss mound and Yoshi took a remote out from his pants; he loved to wear sweatpants. With a press of a button, the mound rose and a metal door was revealed. We all piled in and Yoshi pressed another button as we started to descend, it was actually an elevator. It wasn't long before the doors opened again and a safe house the size of the lair was presented. It had all of the essentials, but that's it. Nothing too fancy. So, I tucked RJ and hope into their own sleeping bags, and this time without a fight. Kiyo and Ya-ya stayed with Yoshi while he started something in the lab.

"You three need to sleep." I told them, and Ya-ya and Kiyomi walked off after saying good-night. Kiyomi grumbled as she left.

"I will in a second, mom. I'm just starting up a tractor for Uncle Donnie to find. Hopefully he can send us his signal and we'll get their location." His fingers danced across the keyboard and I just watched. "I told dad already."

I stood and laid my hands on his shoulders. "Okay," I gave them a squeeze, "but you better be sleeping in ten minutes." I kissed his cheek and returned to the others. Leo was with them and I sat next to him letting out a breath. We leaned against the old beat up sofa and waited for everyone to fall asleep. I let my eyes explore the area. It was pretty empty, other than the couch, and the walls were a light brown dirt color. Across the living room is a small doorway. Hmm, might be a kitchen, a dojo, or maybe a bathroom. I liked it though, it made me think of the lair and its homey feeling it gave off. Only thing was, it was too quiet. Once Yoshi came into the living room and went to sleep, I tried to sleep, but found that I couldn't. As weird as it sounds, it's too quiet for me to sleep. Think about it this way, no matter what time of day it was there was always some type of sound, but that was from the other members of the family making them. Like Raph's loud snoring and Donnie, occasionally, staying up late typing away on his computer. These sounds were all absent and it sent a chill up my spine.

"Momma?" Hope was tugging lightly on my arm.

"You should be sleeping." I told her.

"I know, but why do those people want to hurt us?" She pulled herself into my lap.

Wrapping my arms around her, I sighed. "Because people don't understand us, and it scares them. So they think that if they hurt us we'll go away. We're different."

"But they took Ellie and she's just a baby."

"I know, but they don't care that she's just a baby. That's what bad people do." This made me want to scream out for someone to give a solution to find our family, but I knew I couldn't. Plus, that would definitely scare everyone. RJ was sitting up and watching the conversation. I motioned him to come over and he rushed over.

"We'll get them back." Leo promised.

"Sooner than you think." Yoshi's voice came from behind us, and we all looked at him. A big smile was on his face. "I found them."

"Are you sure?" Yasuo asked.

"Almost positive. Uncle Don somehow was able to send out a 'SOS' signal."

"Well, where are they?"

"That's the problem." Yoshi started.

"You don't know." Leo finished.

"Oh no," Yoshi waved his hands, "I do know, it's just, they're just constantly moving."

"Nevada?" Yasuo almost shouted.

I looked at Yasuo then at Yoshi. "They're in Nevada?!"

"According to the coordinates I got a few minutes ago, yes."

"Do you still have their trail?" Leo asked.

"It cuts in and out, but as of now," He looked at his watch, "yes."

"Then we leave," Kiyomi nodded, "now."

"We'll have to take a plane or drive. That'll take a little to get a flight." I reasoned with her.

"Then let's get on a computer a book a flight."

"We will in the morning, but right now, we all could use a few hours of some sleep." Leo told us.

"We'll need to pack some bags too so we don't look suspicious." I added. We didn't need to take much other than like a toothbrush and a bag to conceal our weapons. Guess what, Donnie figured out a way to keep the scanners at the airports detect them. Perfect, right? "We have tons of suitcases back at my parents' house." I said mostly to Leo.

"It's settled, we'll leave tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Another two hours past and our plane still wasn't here. The kids were growing restless, cranky, and argued nonstop, but the arguing ended up being the highlight of our waiting time. I looked around and found that RJ fell asleep leaning on Kiyomi. Yoshi and Yasuo were walking around looking for some food that was actually edible. I noticed that they stayed relatively close to where the rest of us were sitting and would glance over everyone once in awhile. Offering a smile, they would smile back and continue to look around.

' _Are you hungry?'_ Yasuo asked as he looked at the menu.

' _Is there anything good?'_

" _Probably, but I can't eat."_

I frowned. ' _Just grab a muffin or something and we'll share it.'_

He didn't grab anything; I didn't blame him for not wanting to eat. Our family was with Bishop, again, and we were scared. Especially now, when Bishop had the kids too. God knows what Bishop is doing to them. As if he could read my mind, Leo put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my head. My head went onto his shoulder and our fingers intertwined together.

"It'll be okay." He murmured into my ear.

" _All passengers for flight 295 to Mesquite, Nevada are now able to board."_ The announcer's voice pulled us out of our thoughts.

"Alright, let's go." Leo stood with my hand in his.

' _Yasuo, we're leaving.'_ I told him as we started to get in line to board the plane.

Yasuo and Yoshi joined us and we gave our ticket to the man standing behind a tall podium. He scanned our tickets and allowed us through. It didn't take long for us to find our seats and get comfortable, so now we had to, yet again, wait. This was torture, not only because of the situation, but because I'm afraid of planes. They always scared me and gave me the feeling that they would just fall out of the sky. Seriously though, this thing weighs how much and it can fly? It freaks me out. Leo took my hand and gave it a squeeze. I looked over at him and smiled as my heart continued to race. As I rested my head on the back of the seat, I closed my eyes as the plane backed out of the terminal.

The last time I was on a plane, was when I went to Nashville. I was checking out a college and, honestly, I just wanted to go to the state. After all it is the home of Country music, and I am a huge fan of the genre. Anyway, on the flight down, I had my ninja turtle throw blanket with me. Call me strange or weird, but having it with me made me feel safe and content. Obviously, now I don't need that clutch because I did have the guys. So as my nerves bubbled up, I focused on Leo's hand around mine. RJ was leaning on my shoulder and across the aisle, Yoshi had a protective arm around Hope, who now had Yasuo's sweatshirt on. Ya-ya was in front of me dozing off.

"Rest now, I have a feeling we'll need the energy." Leo whispered in my ear as the plane was finally smoothing out as it sped through the air.

"Only if you do." I turned my head to look at him.

"I will." He kissed me before peaking around the plane.

I nodded and laid my head back on his shoulder. After I got my nerves under control, I was able to fall to sleep.

"Alexa." Leo nudged me. "We landed."

Sitting up, I saw that everyone else was waking up as well. I yawned and looked out the window with RJ. He was frowning deeply.

"RJ." I put my hand over his, which was gripping the arm of the chair tightly. "I promise you, we'll get them back."

"How?" He asked without taking his eyes off the window.

"The same way we always do, with determination, strength, and love because nothing's stronger than that." I told him in a quiet voice.

He scoffed. "That only happens in the movies."

"Not always." I smiled at him and the other passengers started to get off the plane.

' _Mom. Yoshi just got an update on the others' location.'_

' _Did you tell your father?'_ I asked.

' _Already did.'_

It finally was our turn to get off, so we all headed for the baggage claim. One by one our luggage showed up fifteen minutes after we got there.

"Do we have to take the bus?" Hope asked.

"No, we're renting a car." Leo answered as he led us to the pick-up station for the rentals.

Leo was dealing with whatever paperwork that was needed while the rest of us picked a car. With the rental service we chose, you pay for a certain size car and they have dozens to choose from. And as ironic as it was, there was a large green SUV. I peeked inside and saw that there were seats in the truck area. After counting the seats, we started tossing the bags into the remaining space in the trunk.

"This is what you chose?" Leo smiled as he walked towards us.

I looked at the kids then back at Leo and nodded.

"Okay," He shook his head still smiling, and we all piled into the truck. "When we get to the apartment, we'll discuss on what to do next."

Everyone nodded and I turned the radio on to avoid the awkward silence. I listened as the guitar rang with the singer's voice and the words spoke to me. The emotion in the singer's voice made me want to sing along as my heart jumped. Too bad I've never heard the song before. With a sigh, I turned my attention towards the empty terrain. All of the buildings disappeared, and an empty terrain replaced it. Great, on the middle of nowhere with no place for cover. God, Leo, would it have killed you to pick a hotel with more options. I know it's all we've got for the time being, but come on, we need something positive.

It wasn't until an hour, hour and a half, later that we pulled up to the hotel, or well, motel according to the sign. We parked and took in the motel. To me it looked like the motel in "The Walking Dead" video game. Great…

(Kiyomi POV)

Oh no, we are not staying here! This place screams "Zombie Apocalypse". I stayed close to Yoshi as I tossed my bag over my shoulder. What the hell was dad trying to do, huh? My vote on what his plan is, is sacrificing us to the zombies. Not possible? I don't care! I'm sticking with the zombie story!

Of course, our room was the farthest away and RJ was getting cranky. Have you ever seen that kid when he was in a bad mood? It's like dealing with an angry brick wall! I felt for him though. Both of his parents and brother were turtle-napped, and didn't understand what was going on. Hopie, too. She and my other cousins don't know what the people on the surface think of us. Hell, they don't even know about the Foot. Our parents made sure to keep us sheltered from the hate.

I gave Hope a light urge forward as we rounded the corner to our room. It was a decent size, but I know we were going to get sick of each other real quick. With a loud groan, I let my head hang as I shuffled in. Ya-ya dropped his arm over my shoulder as he deactivated his bracelet and returned to his green self.

"It won't be so bad, Kiyo."

"Wait, how long are we staying here?" Hope panicked and mom held her hands still so she wouldn't run around like a nut.

"Not long, honey, not long."

Hope nodded and my gaze went to dad who was still in his human form staring out the window. His arms were crossed over his chest as I walked up next to him. Dad's face was stern and serious, or his "leader face" as mom likes to call it. He must've noticed me staring because he seemed to have pulled himself out of his "trance" and shifted his weight.

"Dad?" I asked.

"Hmm?" He grunted in response.

"Do you think Bishop is coming back for us?" I asked not really wanting to know the answer. If he was back to finish what he started with mom, then the same thing could happen to me! Dad's hand went on my shoulder, stopping my thoughts.

"If he's involved," Dad paused and glanced out the window again. It looked like he was reminiscing before he turned back to me, "then he's going to be sorry that he was." Dad hugged me and kissed the top of my head. "I'm not letting him lay a hand on you, any of you."

"I know you won't, dad." I smiled as he then turned off his ring and shut the curtains.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I still can't believe this is our plan." Kiyomi grumbled as we put our disguises on.

"It's all we can do, plus, it's gonna be fun." Yasuo smiled.

When Yasuo came up with his "brilliant plan", we were all skeptical. Well, all of us, besides Leo. He saw something in the plan that none of us could see. I was still waiting for the brilliance to show as we all dressed. No matter what we thought about this plan, it was happening. Yoshi and Kiyo worked together all night to pinpoint the other's location. Luckily, Donnie was sending out SOS signals to us, too. So that made it a little easier, but we were counting on that signal for when we arrived. It would, hopefully, lead us right to them. Also we planned this whole escape off of that location, so if we were wrong, things were going to get rough.

Leo drove our large van in front of the large factory-like building and parked. We were in our human forms dressed as…wait for it…plumbers. Yeah, that was Yasuo's brilliant plan, sneak passed all of the guards dressed as plumbers. Sure, this might get us to where we have to go, but one questions, how are we sneaking the others out? There are too many of them to break out all at once. What are we going to do if we can't get them all out?

"Is everyone ready?" Leo turned to face everyone.

We all nodded and got ready to do our part. Hope and RJ were staying in the van with Yoshi while the rest of us were going in. We grabbed our various tools and went to the front door. Leo knocked and we waited for the floor to open up, but instead, it opened.

"Are ya 'ere fer da 'eater?" A middle aged man stood before us.

I nodded. "Yeah, I hope it's okay that we brought our interns." Making my voice ridiculously high, I motioned at Kiyomi and Yasuo. Leo followed my lead changing his voice.

"It was an unexpected surprise. There will be no more surprises."

The man shrugged and motioned for us to follow. We walked in as the man led us down a series of hallways. Kiyomi was looking around with a confused look. Yeah, good, that added to her role, but then I noticed why she was confused, we were going the wrong way! Before we left there was a map of where everything could be, and Yoshi said the cells were next to whatever we were supposed to be working on. He called saying the heater had to be inspected, and the morons believed him. Sure it's good that we got in, but we were still heading in the wrong direction. It's going to take forever to find everyone!

As we arrived at the heater, the man left and we were left to get to work. We locked the door and started to break open the large ventilation shafts. Yes, I know, clique. So, as we crawled in Yoshi's voice buzzed in our ear pieces.

'That was too easy.'

"Don't get used to it." Kiyo mumbled.

'Anyway, they should be a small intersection. Just stay to the left and it should take you straight to where they are all being held.'

"Could you hack into the cameras near them and see if they're still here?" I asked quietly.

'On it.' He was silent for a few minutes before reporting back. 'It looks like they're all there.'

Hmmm…this rescue is going to be a steal! Only thing was, we still need a way to get everyone out safely. Throughout the time we crawled, Yoshi kept us updated. Right now, Raph was taken from his cell. He was going to be hard to get out.

'It's not going to be hard to find him.' Yoshi said sadly.

As if on cue, Raph's pain-filled screams echoed throughout the shaft. Leo quickly covered Kiyomi's mouth as she got ready to shout back. She was scared, pissed off, and overall, overwhelmed. My jaw clenched in efforts to keep myself from calling out to him. I wanted him to know that we were here to bust him out. Yasuo glanced at me and I nodded for us to keep moving. Leo got Kiyo to calm down and we were on our way again.

'Take the next drop off. You'll be in the hall with everyone. When you get down give everyone the cloaking devices in Yasuo's bag.'

When the drop off got closer, we silently jumped down and looked around. Everyone was separated other than the kids. Overall, the kids looked unharmed. The first time I was held captive flashed before me. I closed my eyes and pushed the sight away. Yasuo and Kiyomi were getting the kids out and concealed them, so I started to help the others with Leo. Our camouflage devices were like that blanket in Harry Potter, the one that made him invisible. Our device, however, was kind of like a clip. I haven't watched all of the Harry Potter movies or read the books, but I did watch a little bit of one movie. Sam's dramatics pulled my thoughts away.

"Raph, he's got Raph." Sam rambled. "I heard him screaming-"

"Sam, we'll get him." I took her hands before looking at Leo. "Get them out."

"No, you're going with them." Leo ordered.

"No, they need you for backup." I countered. "There's more out of commission, and Yasuo and Kiyomi need help. I can handle Raphael." Giving him a shove to make my point clear, I headed for my brother.

Like Yoshi said, it wasn't hard to find him. I found him in an empty room with a tall ceiling, chained to the floor. My eyes widened, and I looked around the room to see if the coast was clear. No doubt there were cameras hidden. Destroying them wouldn't give us time to escape. Bishop would no doubt have them rigged to set off an alarm when damaged. Quickly, I had Yoshi program the camouflage device to mimic a short clip of Raph, then located the cameras (there were only two) and placed the clips. Once it was placed, I raced down to Raph. Carefully, I removed the cuffs and tried to get him to focus.

"Lexa?" He groaned. "What are ya doin' 'ere?"

"Saving you." I told him as I dropped his arms around my shoulders. He looked terrible. Bruises covered his face and plastron and his right eye was swollen shut.

"I 'ad evr'y ting unda control." He gasped.

"Yeah, I'm sure you did." I smiled and pulled him along.

With our camouflage retrieved and on, we walked right past the now alert soldiers. I couldn't help, but hold my breath as they ran past. Bishop knows Donnie, so there's that small possibility that he could be scanning the base for even the slightest glitches. As an ending result, following us. Bishop was standing in the center of a group of soldiers with a smirk. Did he see us? I had to risk it. Carrying both of Raphael and I's weight, I dragged him past the menace, and went unnoticed. So far, so good.

"Darling, aren't you going to greet me before you leave?" Bishop said without looking at me and I froze. "Or were you looking for me?"

God, Bishop you got creepy. I let the camouflage off of me, just in case he didn't see Raph and turned to him. My shoulders were pulled back in confidence and I held my head high.

"Ah, there you are." Bishop clapped his hands together, before frowning. "Leonardo left you to find your own way out?" He shook his head. "And he's supposed to be the respectful one."

I bit into my cheek to keep myself from smiling. He didn't see Raph! "I told him to leave."

"I wouldn't have left someone so delicate by herself in an enemy's secret HQ."

Sexist much? "I'm not as 'delicate' as you think, Bishop. I can fend for myself."

His brow cocked. "Can you?"

"Would you like to test the theory?" I pulled out my Kama.

Bishop shook his head. "Oh, no need for fighting."

Before I could question or even react, the ground opened out from under me.

 **A/N: Any questions? Things are going to get exciting. :) Thanks for the fav and follow Moore98Luke! It's nice to see a familiar face.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay this chapter may be a bit confusing, so if anyone has questions shoot me a PM. Enjoy : )**

Chapter 6

When I opened my eyes, I was not expecting what I saw. I was laying in my old room in my parents' house. That was weird. My parents' just finished sending the rest of my things over to the lair. I sat up and looked at my clock which read, 5:30 am. Throwing my covers off, I went to go look for Leo, but I found our house alarm was still on and my sister's bedroom light was on. What? I looked in the spare room and found Mikey's comics were gone. Okay, okay, don't panic, just contact Yasuo. I shut my eyes and focused.

'Yasuo?' I waited and waited, but he wasn't answering.

"What are you doing up?" Jim asked as he entered the code for the alarm.

I just stared, I was usually up at this time.

"You okay?"

I gulped and quickly nodded as I bolted down the stairs to where the portal is…or should be there! It was gone! Shaking my head, I ran back up to my room and dove back into bed. Was I back to my time without the turtles? No! I quietly sobbed into my pillow and tried to wrap my head around this, it couldn't be true. Wait a minute. My hand went to my face and landed on my nose. What? Scrambling to my mirror, I found my teenage-self staring back at me. Hold up, did I lose my powers too? Oh no, oh no, this was not good! How was I getting home? I closed my eyes and sighed.

I'll have to pretend to be the person I am in this world, and if I remember correctly, I have school. Lucky for me, I have a copy of my school schedule, so I'm not going to be completely lost. So I did a quick study over my schedule and got ready before hopping in the car. Taylor got in the driver seat and started the car. Oh…my…god…I don't know how I sat in a car with that girl driving. I'm surprised I got to school in one piece. So I strolled down the hallway and went to my locker which Kiyomi has back home. When I opened the locker, I found my old things in it. Fuck, this was real. With a heavy heart, I went to the library to find Kristen.

"Leo!" A tall girl with long blonde hair ran up to me.

Huh? She bumped her shoulder into mine. Why did she call me 'Leo'? Wait, I know of her, she's that McKenna girl.

"Leo, what's your problem?" She waved her hand in front of my face and I pulled back.

I tried to walk around her and started towards the library again. "Um, McKenna, right?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yes, Leo, my name is Raphael." She laughed and pulled me into the library. "Are you okay?"

So, I'm friends with her and call her Raph? I set my books on the small round table. Where was Kristen?

"Do you know where Steve is?"

McKenna's eyebrows raised. "Um, she's taking those college classes. She doesn't go here anymore."

What?!

"Are you okay?" She asked again.

"Um, uh, y-yeah. I got a lot going on right now." I rested my head in my hands.

"Well, cheer up! We've got a fanfiction to write. You still need to show me the ones you wrote."

"One's I wrote?"

McKenna face palmed herself. "And Splinter made you leader."

Wow, that was an ass statement. "Um, alright let's pretend I was teleported here in a wild accident." I paused and she nodded. "Okay, so that means you've got to teach me everything I've got to know."

With a shrug, she nodded. "Where do you want to start?"

"Friends."

McKenna crossed her arms. "Of course," she pointed at herself, "there's me. You're best friend in the entire world."

Okay, I don't know about that one. "Anyone else?"

"Chris."

My memory is a little fuzzy, but…wait, I do remember. We went out. Is this before we did go out?"

"Ohhhh, you still like him!"

"No, I'm m-" I stopped myself, "I have a boyfriend."

"Leo, you can't go out with yourself." McKenna tried to say with a straight face, but failed.

Alright, time to play along. "Yeah, I can."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Leo."

As the bell rang, we headed to our classes. Mine was Kiyomi's children class. My teacher lectured on and on about "where babies came from", and I found myself missing my babies. Again, I tried to reach Yasuo, but he didn't answer. Luckily, we got into the topic of birth defects and a sad video went on. I didn't notice, but a few tears raced down my face.

My next class was, Performing Arts. Nothing special happened, other than Sarah not really talking to me. So I stuck my headphones in my ears and listened to some music. Government was well, government. I was bored and TJ was being his usual goofy self. The lunch bell rang and TJ led me to our lunch table. McKenna, uh I mean Raph, was sitting at the other end of the table and waved me over. So I sat next to her and skipped eating. Today sucked…jumping slightly at the quick movement, Kenna shoved her phone in my hand, and I looked at the screen. It was an amazing drawing of the guys. They were together on a couch passed out. I laughed and fought the tears that threatened to erupt from me. I remember this happening. We just got back from patrol.

" _Dude, did you see that guy's face when Alexa got into the fight?" Mikey shouted as he threw his hands out to the sides of him._

" _Yeah, probably dought she was savin' 'im." Raph smirked._

" _Not even in his dreams." I crossed my arms. "I just knocked out a few guys, it's no big deal."_

" _Sure it was, dudette." Mikey swung his arm around my shoulders._

 _I shrugged. "I don't know…"_

" _You were amazing." Leo smiled at me. Even now, that smile made the butterflies in my stomach throw a freaking party._

 _Donnie yawned and Mikey started busting on him about being tired. He shouldn't have been talking because when we got home he was the first to fall asleep. As the others piled on or around the couch, they were out like a light. Quietly, I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture._

" _Alexa!" Raph roared._

 _Oh, shit._

"Leo!" McKenna shook me.

"What?" I pulled back.

"You totally zoned out on me there."

"Sorry, just made me think of something."

"Well, think of the story instead!"

I rolled my eyes. Looks like I have some studying to do. After English, my last class, McKenna dragged me to the library as she talked about my story. I could've cried because of how precise it was to my life. In this point in time, I am very introverted, so I had to make sure I have my emotions in check. Looking over what I read and answering all of McKenna's questions, it seemed she knew I wasn't myself.

"What you said before about being from a different dimension, is it true?" She asked suddenly.

I nodded. "This fanfiction is my reality."

McKenna froze. "Wait, th-the turtles…they're real?"

I nodded and went to continue, but McKenna shouted.

"You know Raph and you didn't tell me!"

"Shh!" I shoved her. "Please, I need help getting home." I froze, wait! Raph was with Bishop before I was transported here. "I have to go back, Raph is with Bishop."

Her green eyes widened. "What are we doing here? We've got work to do!"

(Leo POV)

Where are they? I paced in front of the entrance of the lair as everyone started cleaning. That's it! She's not pulling that shit again! If she's not back in ten minutes, I'm going back. How stupid can she be? I sighed, sliding my hand down my face. I'm surrounded by idiots. Why me? Why did I have to have this problem? Another sigh escaped me as Yasuo joined me in my wait. I would've yelled at him to continue helping the others clean, but his company was making me feel more at ease. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him standing strong with his arms crossed. My lip twitched into a smile as I noticed the similarities between us. There's no doubt that he's my son. For Kiyomi and Yoshi, it's obvious who their biological fathers are, but it will never change anything.

"It's uncle Raph." Yasuo bolted out of the lair. 'He's hurt.'

"Donnie!" I called as Yasuo and Raph walked in. Donnie was already guiding Raph to the lab, and I followed. "Where's Alexa?"

Kiyomi heard me question and started looking around. "Mom!" She ran to the exit. "Momma!"

I quickly intercepted her in her path so she wouldn't blindly run out to the surface. Quickly wrapping my arms over hers to keep her from harming herself. She continued to struggle against me and called out for her mother who wasn't coming home. I whispered to Kiyomi as she fought the tears that I know were tearing her apart. So much like Alexa…where ever she may be.

(Alexa POV)

I gasped and sat up in my bed, a cold sweat coated me. My breaths came in quick as my dream replayed itself. It was too real. I was home, but not physically there. It was like I was just observing, and I didn't like what I "observed". Raph was nowhere to be seen and everyone was moping around like zombies. RJ and Kayden were crying and Sam was trying to comfort them. Was this happening back home? Was this reality? Were they okay? Where's Raph? My heart was still pounding as I tried to get control of myself. Panicking wasn't going to fix anything after all. McKenna hasn't spoken to me in a week, but this guy, Chris, joined in on the project. He was doing tons and tons of research on this even though that, he too, thought it was fictional.

The thought that keeps me up at night is how can we even accomplish this? Dimension hopping hasn't been discovered. I pulled my knees close. How was I getting home? My focus was pulled towards my phone when it buzzed. TJ's name illuminated the screen.

'Hey Chris said that you're doing a project and needed an extra hand.'

'Hey, yeah I do.' I pressed send.

'Well, I can give you a hand if you want?'

I smiled. 'Thanks, I need all the help I could get.'

After sending the text, I tried to fall back to sleep, but I kept getting horrific images and thoughts of Yoshi. I don't know why, but I was. Sometimes he'd just be too thin or resting in bed with dark hollow eyes. Was it true?


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: The 2k3 turtles are back! They will be distinguished by using the guys' full name and the 2k14 turtles will have the nicknames**

 **Ojīchan- grandpa**

 **Watashi wa anata no imōto o aishi- I love you, sister**

 **Shisutā- Sister**

Chapter 7

(Kiyomi POV)

It's been weeks since mom has been gone. No one knows where she is and we've checked hundreds of dimensions. The other turtles (2003) came to our dimension after we sent them a message about mom. They came without hesitation, in hopes that they could help bring her home, but it's been hard. Emotionally, we're all drained.

Hope screams in her sleep, calling for mom, and thrashes around. One of us, usually dad, would try to wake her before she hurts herself. When this happens and I see that dad is with her, I'd go back to bed, but one night I didn't want to return to my room. So I sat next to her door and listened. Hopie's whimpers and dad's words of comfort broke through the wall loud and clear. I turned to peek through the crack of the door to find him holding Hope to him tightly as she trembled and clung to him. Her eyes were red and puffy as dad's hand stroked her head. Dad would talk to her and try to comfort her, but we all knew there was only one person who could do that…and that was mom.

Yoshi has been working non-stop with Uncle Donnie and Donatello in the lab. In all honesty, he's become obsessed. I didn't blame him, but when we see him that's all he talks about. Then, he returns to the lab to do whatever he does in there. He never comes back out, and sleep is out of the question. I can't tell you when the last time he had a full night's rest. It hurts seeing him like this. He's slowly withering away. I'd bring him food, but he doesn't touch it. It scares me. Yoshi used to be so bright with joy and his curiosity drove his passion. Now, he's become a hollow shell, like he isn't there.

Yasuo spent a lot of time in the dojo, it was his place of escape. He's always training physically and mentally. Yasuo was always quiet, but I didn't need to have his ability to see that he was breaking. Out of the four of us, Yasuo is, no doubt, the closest to mom. When he's sparring with dad, you could hear him shout out in pain, but we all knew we couldn't help. He was suffering from emotional pain that would echo through me and Yoshi because Yasuo would lose his control. He's emotions link into our minds. After his meltdown, he'd lock himself in his room.

"Hey Kiddo."

I looked up from my notebook to find Uncle Raphie leaning against the doorframe. "What's up?" I set my notebook down.

With a shrug, he strolled in and sat on my bed.

"Just checkin' on ya." He folded his hands in front of him.

I sighed and crossed my arms. "I'm fine, Uncle."

"Tell dat ta someone who'd believe ya."

I just sighed, he won't let it go until I answer. "I'm worried about everyone. Yoshi, Hope, and Yasuo have changed." I shoved him lightly. "You see it, right?"

He nodded. "Yoshi's da one dat worries me da most."

"Doesn't dad see this?"

Uncle Raph pulled me to his side, and my head rested on his shoulder. "I tink he just doesn't know what ta do or how ta help 'im. No doubt 'e's tryin' dou."

"I'm gonna go talk to Yoshi…try to talk to Yoshi." I got up and headed towards the lab. A majority of the others were in the kitchen talking about a plan, again. A long sigh passed my lips. It's like we were getting ready for a big battle. I pulled my eyes away and went to enter the lab, but I slammed into Yoshi's shield. "What?" My hand went to the shield and frowned. Yoshi…

'He's not letting anyone in, other than Donatello.'

'Why not Uncle Don?'

'Because he tried to get Yoshi to stop.'

My eyes burned as tears filled my eyes. I inhaled deeply before slowly breathing out. My forehead rested on the shield with my hand, and I silently begged my older brother to come out, come home.

"He's blocking me out." Yasuo's voice was sad as his hand touched my shoulder.

"He can't keep doing this." I said sternly, allowing my hand to drop. Then the thought hit me. Yoshi hasn't played his guitar or sang in a long time. "'There's a place…that I know…it's not pretty there and few have ever gone…If I show it to you now will it make you run away…or will you stay…even if it hurts…even if I try to push you out will you return…and remind me who I really am…please remind me who I really am…!'"

Yasuo joined in. "'Everybody's got a darkside…do you love me…can you love mine…no body's a picture perfect…but we're worth it you know that we're worth it…will you love me…even with my darkside."'

I skipped to the end of the song. "'Don't runaway…don't runaway…don't runaway promise you'll stay.'"

I was hoping, expecting, him to come out, but he didn't. "Yoshi!" My fist collided with the shield. "Don't keep doing this!" Yoshi had started pulling me away. "Please, I need you back!" I, unintentionally, growled as my shouts went unanswered.

"Kiyomi." Ojichan's voice was calm, and I stopped. "Come with me."

Yasuo let me go as I followed my Ojichan. A little embarrassed by the attention I attracted, I bowed my head. Outbursts like that, from me, were actually rare. Believe it or not. As I entered Ojichan's room, I kneeled in front of him as I've done before my father.

"Your father was very much like you when he was little." Ojichan stroked his beard. "Before he dedicated himself to his training, he was quite the troublemaker. Do you believe that?"

I shook my head.

"He used to have outburst just like that." He pointed towards his door where I just flipped out.

"I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with what I did?" I asked.

"Were you thinking clearly?"

I thought back and shook my head. Yoshi is practically his shields so when I just beat that one, I was beating him. "No."

"Your father learned that the hard way. He was out on patrol when the Foot attacked. Their numbers were relentless and Raphael was hurt. Your father lashed out, forgetting about his team. They barely made it out alive." He closed his eyes.

"It doesn't help." I thought out loud.

Ojichan nodded. "Yoshi could end up harming himself."

"I'm scared, Ojichan. He's withering away."

"Yoshi, will have a battle to fight. He will struggle, fall, and lose hope, but we will be here to support him."

I looked at Ojichan. "But how much more can he take?"

He sighed. "Yoshi is strong. He will pull through."

I nodded and hugged him. "I hope."

"Do not fret, my child." He patted my shell. "All will be well."

Pulling away, I thanked him and went into my room. I was definitely getting a lecture later, but why? I'm only trying to help Yoshi. All tied up in the lab, I wanted him to know that he's not alone.

(Yoshi POV)

Kiyo's attempts to make me leave the lab echoed in my head. If only she could understand, all of them. It's my fault mom isn't here. My fist banged on the desk. If I was more careful, that portal should've been easy to detect. Easily, I could've prevented this disaster. I could've stopped the pain my family was feeling. My fault…

"Yoshi, Don is coming back in," Donatello stood, but I kept my shell to him, "We all need our sleep."

I rolled my eyes and turned towards the small purple masked terrapin. "I said I'm fine." Pouting at him, I waited for my anger to dissipate. "Everyone has got to back off."

"We won't until you're well again." Donatello's eyes showed so much pity it actually made me feel sick. With that, he left.

Sighing heavily, I turned back to the screen and started testing some dimensions for breadcrumbs. My eyes were burning from being in the dark and staring into a bright screen.

' _Don't use the computer without a light on.'_

Mom's voice echoed in my head. Closing my eyes, I slid my hand over my face. Unconsciously, my hand went to the lamp on the desk and turned it on. Momma…

"Yoshi, it's Kiyomi, again."

I froze and turned slowly, towards the door.

"I wanted to say, I'm sorry. With everything going on right now," she stopped for a moment, "I'm scared, Yoshi. Mom's gone, and my pow-, uh , and you."

My chest ached.

"I haven't seen or heard from you in days. Please, I just want to know you're alive." The rest of her words were strangled by her sobbing.

Oh, Shisutā. My heart ached to comfort her, but that was always Yasuo's job. I jolted slightly as Kiyomi's hand rested on the shield I had placed around the lab. Her emotions her implanted on that spot. I swallowed the lump in my throat as her pain crashed into me wave after wave. As long as I could remember, my shields have always been an extension of me. It was as if they were…me. Like, I could just teleport to where my shields go and it was me standing there. Carefully, I got out of my chair, the one I never left, and stood in front of the door with trembling legs. Kiyomi's crying broke through the door. God, it killed me hearing her like this. So, slowly, I opened the door and let my shield down. She didn't hear me come out so I went to my knees and engulfed her in my arms. Tensing slightly at my touch, she gasped in surprise before latching onto my black sweatshirt as if that would keep me from leaving her.

"I'm sorry." I whispered to my little sister. "Watashi wa anata no imōto o aishi."

 **A/N: So, if any of the Japanese is off let me know! X)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So I had to repost this chapter because the format was weird and looked like a bunch of serial numbers. Let me know if it happens again. Thanks! :)**

Chapter 8

I stared at the large contraption in my backyard. It was here! The dimension-hopper is here! If it works is another question, but everyone was here to help. Chris, McKenna, and TJ stood behind me as I marveled at the machine. Chris did a lot of the work because he was actually writing something with a machine close to this. Right now, all I could think was, I was going home.

"This isn't going to work." TJ stroked his chin. "It's not possible."

"Not until you try it." I mumbled.

"Let's give it a try." Chris went over to turn on the machine and after a series of button pressing, it buzzed to life. The familiar bluish swirl of light illuminated from the machine and I stepped back. An image started to form on the swirl. A figure was in a dark room. A single light was displaying the figure's face. It was Yoshi! He was sitting in front of the computer in Donnie's lab. A frown was imbedded on his features and his sweatshirt seemed a lot looser. His brown eyes blended into the dark circles under his eyes.

"Yoshi…" His name passed my lips as a whisper as I reached for him. His head turned in multiple directions, eyes wide.

"Momma!" He shouted.

All of a sudden the images started to fade. I went to run at the portal, but someone was holding me back. "Yoshi! I'm coming home! I'll be home soon!" Yoshi kept calling out to me and the portal shut down. I froze.

'Yasuo!' I started to charge towards the spot where Yoshi was.

He didn't answer, and someone was holding me back.

"Let her go." McKenna said quietly and whoever held me let go.

I knelt to the ground. "Something's wrong." Quickly, I pulled myself together and my arm swept past my damp eyes. "Did you see him?"

"The giant turtle? Yeah." Chris said.

"My son's not healthy." I started. "He's not happy. He's withering away."

"What?" TJ and Chris shouted.

"Dammit." I mumbled under my breath. I had to tell them now. "Alright, um, guys, confession time. This wasn't for a project. The truth is…I'm not from here." My finger jabbed towards the machine. "What you just saw there was my real home where I have four children and a husband waiting for me. I can tell you, I went through hell to keep those kids safe and now they're in trouble from themselves, it seems." My hand fell to my side. "I have to go home, so I can save my children."

"Why can't they just open a portal from their side?" Chris asked.

"They probably had to check millions of dimensions to find me because they didn't know where Bishop dropped me. Hopefully, now that we got in touch with Yoshi, they'll be able to find me."

"You had four kids!" TJ yelled.

"Yeah." I sighed.

"The ninja turtles are real." McKenna added.

Chris and TJ were beyond confused right now. Hell, I didn't blame them.

"So this was supposed to work from the start?" Chris pointed at the portal.

I nodded. "If I wanted to go home."

"So what do we do now?" TJ asked.

"Try again. I'm not going to give up." I said with a new sense of determination.

"That's why you've been acting strange the last few days." TJ blurted out.

"Talk to us, Leo." Kenna said.

Open up? Tell them how I feel? Sounds impossible to me. The only people I've opened up to are the turtles and Kristen. The reasons are the same for both of them. I've known them for years. There were so many times I've tried to go up to a friend and just vent, but I am physically unable to. My voice catches in my throat and I sit there with my mouth gaping open like a fish. It's frustrating because everyone is always reminding me how bad it is to keep these feelings in. I feel like I've pushed so many people away to keep them from seeing my dark side. Is it worth it? That's what I always ask myself. Is it worth all of the pain and loneliness? Why can't I be happy away from the turtles? Well, other than the fact that I have a family with them, but now I'm away from them…it's hard.

"Alexa." Kenna gave me a light shove.

"I'm fine." I forced a smile to my face. "I'm okay."

Mckenna gave me the 'I don't believe you face', but let it go. The guys let it alone too, but I was glad. I really didn't want to have to explain myself. We hung out a little longer and watched a movie. I wasn't paying too much attention to the movie, I didn't even know what was playing. Honestly, I just stared at the floor. My phone buzzed next to me, and I looked at it.

"Hey, if you ever feel the need to vent, lay on, k?" It was from TJ.

I smiled at the text and tears blurred my sight. "Thanks TJ. That means a lot." I responded.

Looking over at him, I nodded my thanks. He smiled and looked back at the screen. If only I could tell all of them. If only I could be normal and talk about what I bottled up on the inside. I wanted Leo…I wanted to feel his arms around me. I wanted to hear his voice by my ear whispering to me that everything was going to be okay. I needed him. With a sigh, I picked up my phone.

"Hey, Raph, feel like having a TMNT movie marathon?"

"Yes!" McKenna shouted into the phone before hanging up.

"You don't know this, but I've been asking to do this for forever!"

It didn't take long for her Kenna to get here and set up the marathon. Supposedly I had every single one of the TV shows and movies started from the original movies. So while Kenna chose the movie, I got popcorn. The sweet buttery aroma of the snack filled the kitchen as I made some iced tea. This was going to be great.

Once the popcorn was finished, I juggled the food and drinks up to my room. When I got up to my room, the movie was already playing. I just shrugged it off and set everything down. She picked the TMNT the 2007 movie. My eyes were glued to the screen, but my mind was elsewhere.

The kids loved this movie. I could hear Yasuo laughing and singing as Kiyomi and Yoshi would act out the fight scene between Raphael and one of the 13 monsters. Taking a sip of my iced tea, I fought the thoughts of them. Last night, I had the best dream ever. Doesn't sound bad, right? Well, it was because I woke up. In the dream, I was walking around my school, trying to get away from someone. I remember feeling so…lost and then Leo walked around the corner and pulled me into a hug. Not really sure what was going on, I broke down. Crying and grasping him, I let my emotions take over. Before I knew it, I woke up. Those are the worst dreams. The ones that feel so real and you wake up to discover that that's all it would ever be. For me, that was ever night. Leo haunts my dreams like a ghost. Observing, assisting, and then leaving. The never-ending cycle of my nights. When will the cycle end? I don't know. How many more nights can I take? Not many.

"So what do the triplets have for their weapons?" McKenna asked.

"Yasuo went with the Katana. Kiyomi followed Leo's lead. Yoshi liked mine."

She nodded and a silence hung in the air.

"So for your fanfiction," McKenna started, "you should add me and make me Sam."

What?

"You know, the girl that's with Raph."

"Um, I'm not writing anymore." I told her. By the way they are complete opposites.

"You should start again." She told me before turning back to the movie.

I couldn't if I tried. My eyes went to the screen as Leo returned from Central America. Now, I know how Leo probably felt when he was away. I wonder what everyone was doing back at home.

(Yasuo POV)

"I found her!"

Yoshi's voice boomed throughout the lair as the lab door was thrown open. I bolted out of my room and found everyone in the living room. Dad and the others surrounded Yoshi who looked like he saw a ghost. Focusing my mind, I dug into Yoshi's mind. _I found her! She's alive! She's okay!_ Pulling out of his mind, my heart sped up. Mom's coming home!

"Yoshi, what is it?" Dad gave him a lit jostle.

"I-it's mom." Yoshi stuttered out. "I found her."

In a split second, we all squeezed into the lab as Donatello and Uncle Donnie tried to pull up the portal that Yoshi discovered. We were all silent as the Donnies were furiously typing away on the keyboard. Tension was high as the process went on, we were all wishing that this would work, but then the lair door opened. Dad had his katanas pulled out in defense. A tall dark skin man standing in front of us. He wore a black leather jack with a red shirt underneath. His eyes were wide with shock, but looked pretty calm over all. He put his hands up in surrender.

"Hold on, I'm not a threat."

"Dad, wait." Yoshi pushed to the front of the crowd. "He's a friend."

The man smiled and relaxed more. "Nice to see you again, Yoshi. Thanks for the save."

"Yoshi, explain." Dad kept a harsh glare on the man.

"He's a friend of mom, and actually right now," Yoshi pointed back at the computer, "he's helping mom get back."

"Get back? What do you mean?" The man asked.

Kristen walked up to TJ.

"TJ, my mom has been transported to another dimension." Yoshi explained. "Somehow you're involved in it as well."

"Can you get her back?" Kristen asked.

"We're working on it." Yoshi answered before turning to Donatello. "Let's get her back."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I sat on my back porch staring up at the stars. McKenna went home a few hours ago and my parents and Taylor were up in bed. I told them that this was for a project, so here I was with a notebook and the inability to sleep. The portal was in the same spot it was from this afternoon, useless. Was I ever going to get back home? A tear rolled down my face, which I quickly wiped away, as my mind wondered. I needed to get back, now. A loud "swishing" sound made me jump as that familiar bluish swirl formed in front of me. Did they find me? I stood from the brightly painted chair I was sitting in and walked towards the swirl. A sense of comfort overwhelmed me as I got closer, but another swirl appeared in front of the first one and I was pulled in. I shrieked as the feeling of falling made my stomach flip. Everywhere I looked the blue color engulfed me, so I shut my eyes, but that spinning feeling remained until I made contact with, most likely, the ground. I gasped for air. My eye cracked open to find Bishop standing over me. I rolled onto my stomach and scrambled backwards.

"How was your trip?" He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes at him and slowly stood up. "Still into the generated universes, huh?"

"It is effective, is it not?"

"Effective." I scoffed. "If you want to call it that." Finally, I was able to breathe again. "What do you want?"

"Me? Oh nothing specific." He shrugged.

"Doubt that." I crossed my arms. 'Yasuo, are you there?' I reached out.

'Momma?'

I forced my smile to stay hidden as Yasuo's response sent a wave of relief over me. At least I was back in the same universe. I made a final decision to that because I was my old turtle self.

"Guilty."

"Then what is it, Bishop?"

'Where are you?' Yasuo asked.

'I'm back with Bishop.' I answered.

"Just some entertainment." He shrugged.

"I'm not a court jester. I'm not going to tell you jokes, sing, and dance around for your amusement."

He laughed, but stopped suddenly. "I had something else in mind."

I glared at Bishop who's crazed smile would come and go. "Like what?"

He started to pace as I took the chance to really look around. By the looks of it, I was back where I was originally. Everything looked the same other than Raph. He wasn't here.

"Just a series of experiments dealing with some…delicate things."

I sneered. "Isn't frustrating that you never get to finish your experiments."

His face turned a slight red color. "I would be able to if my subjects would cooperate!"

I smiled at his outburst. "Aw, someone's feelings were hurt."

Bishop was fuming now. "I'll show you who's going to have hurt feelings!"

Three of his bulky guard grabbed my arms. "Oh predictable, I'm the one getting my 'feelings hurt'."

Sorry, I was channeling my inner Mikey.

"Take her away. Do what you want. The real fun will start soon." Bishop waved us off as I was returned to the prison hall.

Is it bad that I'm used to being thrown into these cages? Shrugging it off, I tried to contact Yasuo again, but this time, I let my tears flow. I was almost home.

(Leo POV)

Bishop just brought her back? Why? He was up to something, and I didn't like it. It was way too convenient. We pull up a portal to get her back and she's transported back to Bishop at the exact same time as us. Yoshi just followed the portal fragments to the abandoned storage shack that we had to rescue the others from. My question is 'why is he making this so easy?' Raph, Sam, Lyla, Aurora, and the kids stayed back in the lair while the rest of us came out. I was glad that the 2003 turtles showed up when they did because this would've been difficult to pull off.

"How are we getting back inside?" Kiyomi asked.

After what felt like hours of begging, the triplets talked us into taking them with us. We brought Yasuo and Kiyomi, but Yoshi wasn't well enough to come with us.

"The old fashion way, kid." Raphael punched his fist into his other hand.

"We can't just beat up everyone in there." Yasuo rolled his eyes.

"He's right." Yoshi said through the radio in the van, he's been completely focused and serious with this matter. "You're sneaking in. Uncle Donnie, you perfected the cloaking devices, correct?"

Donnie nodded. "Yeah."

"Then we have them on the entire time." Yoshi, almost, ordered.

"Can't they detect that?" I asked him.

He paused, as if he shook his head. "I'm making it impossible to do so this time."

So that's the reason…blaming himself for Alexa being transported away. I should've guessed. "Yoshi, it wasn't your fault."

The line was quiet again. "If I would've just started the scan, like I wanted to, then mom wouldn't be in this mess."

I left her there with Bishop. If anyone's getting the blame it's me.

"Portals can be tricky to find, especially when they aren't opened yet." Donatello said, flashing Leo a nod.

"Don't do this to yourself." I told him right before the line went dead. I sighed.

"Don't worry, Leo," Mikey's hand slapped my shoulder, "he'll get over it."

I didn't say anything to him.

"How long until we get there?" Kiyomi asked Donatello, who was driving.

"Soon." Leonardo interrupted.

Kiyomi groaned and slouched in her seat. Yasuo was staring out the window.

'Yasuo.'

He frowned. 'Yes, father.'

'What's on your mind?' I thought to him.

'If we're really getting mom back-'

'We will get her back.' I told him.

'How do you know?'

'Because I won't let him take her.'

Yasuo looked from the blacked out window and gave me a curt nod. 'I won't either.'

'Then let's go get her back.'

A smile spread across his face as a new sense of confidence seemed to lift him. I just hope she doesn't do anything she'll regret while she's there. Sometimes her mouth gets the better of her, and she doesn't realize what she's said until after she speaks. It was a surprise to me that she did that when Donnie's glasses were stolen and she confronted the guard because Alexa can be very quiet and timid. If you go after her family, she turns into Raph.

"We're here." Donatello announced.

Kiyomi jumped up out of her chair and peaked outside. "No we're not! We're surrounded by trees!"

"We need ta sneak in, Kid. Dat means we gotta walk." Raphael started to exit the van.

She groaned, but followed with her dual broadswords. Yasuo was following her with an amused smile and gave her a light shove causing her to stumble. Kiyomi glared at him, but carried on. Once we all exited and threw some bushes around it to conceal it better. The woods were thick and dark as we made our way towards the warehouse.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It's been hours since I was thrown into this cell, and nothing was happening. No one came in to pull me down the hall into a torture chamber or just easily beat me to a pulp. I just stood there, leaning against the wall, waiting for someone to hurt me. To pass the time, I started thinking, I know not the best thing for me to do, but what else was I going to do trapped in here. There wasn't much to think about, though. You know those times when your mind feels like there is a hurricane happening and when you try to sort through it, you have no idea what's cluttering it. Sighing in frustration, I crossed my arms and stared out my cell door. The sound of footsteps broke the unbearable boredom as Bishop stood in front of my door. A glare molded to my face as he opened the door and left it open as he stepped inside.

"I was hoping we would be able to talk." He said to me while wringing his hands, he looked completely different from before.

I didn't answer him.

"I've changed-"

"Like hell you've changed." I snapped.

His eyes closed for a moment before looking at me. "You were sent to the wrong place. I wanted to be able to show you that I truly did change. My 'assistant' screwed up the transport and sent you to the wrong time."

I watched him as he explained, but a loud alarm sounded. Bishop became suddenly on edge and called one of his guards.

"Turn the alarm off, let them come." He told the guard and moments later the alarms stopped. "Do not apprehend them. Lead them here."

I stared at him in complete shock, but tackled him. "What game are you playing?" my hands went around his neck, but Bishop didn't struggle or shout. Instead, he just watched me with almost scared eyes. My grip on his neck loosened and I got off of him. Bishop slowly got up, rubbing his now sore neck. He _was_ different. Bishop didn't have that wicked smirk or the usual henchman surrounding him watching for the word to attack. You would think that the old Bishop would scare the heck out of me, but I think this new Bishop tops it. I have no idea what to expect from him, but something was telling me we was telling the truth. No! I can't trust him! This is all a trick! Bishop stepped out of the cell and walked away, leaving the door open. I stared after him, too much in shock to do anything, I went to the corner and sat down, pulling my knees to my chest.

"Alexa?"

My head snapped up to see Leo standing by the open door. He looked the same, but different. His mask seemed brighter and a lot of his usual gear was gone. All that was left were his shorts and sword harness. Donnie was lacking a ton of his gear too, and he was wearing dark green pants and he had an IPhone on his arm. Taking everyone in, they all changed their style slightly. Leo kneeled in front of me, his hands rested on my knees. Was I really back?

"Hey, we're getting you out of here."

My eyes went to his before throwing my arms around him, kissing him as I held onto him. "I missed you so much."

His arm went around me. "We missed you too. Now," Leo pulled back, "let's get out of here."

I stood up and found the '03 turtles walking with us down the short hall. When did they get back? Michelangelo waved at me and Raphael hit him. Raph…Raph! I stopped dead in my tracks and started backing up. Leo had a vice grip on my arm trying to get me to stop.

"Leo, we have to get Raph! Bishop may still have him!"

"No, he's home and healing." Leo held my wrists tight as he tried to get me to chill. "He's okay."

I stopped, slowing my racing heart. "He is?"

Leo nodded.

"Don't worry, I checked him out before we left." Donnie added.

"Come one, Dudette, Kiyo and Yasuo are guarding the lobby." Mikey pulled me in the direction of the lobby.

The kids were here. "And Yoshi?" I asked as we broke into a jog.

"He'll be better when you get home." Donatello said.

As we jogged into the lobby, the entire building was empty. Maybe, Bishop made a quick get-away. The turtles formed almost a wall around me, until we were in the lobby because Kiyomi ran through the turtle wall and launched herself at me. Her face was pressed into my neck, muffling the sounds of her crying, and I kissed her head and held her tight.

I looked up to see Yasuo watching us. Smiling at him, I waved him over. Just like a small child, he ran at me and wrapped his arms around me and Kiyomi. Pretty soon, we were a blubbering mess of tears, and even though we were in an enemy's lair, we stayed like that for a while. We didn't move until Leo started leading us towards the exit. Kiyomi's hand was intertwined with mine and Yasuo was walking close by me as we stepped outside. Concentration was etched in his face as his hand twitched at the sword strapped to his shell. I looked around at everyone else who appeared the same way, on edge. Every little twig snap would add to the eerie tension and Leo and Ya-ya would get closer to me. It wasn't until the van came into view that the group let out a breath of relief, but Donnie's phone rang, making me jump. He took the phone, with Raph's name flashing on it, off his arm and answered it.

"Raph, we got-" Donnie was cut off and Raph's muffled shouts buzzed.

I would've been happy for the call, but Donnie's face told me there was trouble. Of course, Yasuo was probably trying to get into one of their heads to find out what was happening. As I looked back and forth from Don to Ya-ya, I was being pulled into the van and Leonardo was speeding down the road. It was like everyone knew what was going on, other than me, but they too were staring at Donnie. Begging silently, I prayed that everything was okay. Donnie's eyes met Leo's.

"He collapsed." Donnie paused. "There are instructions in my desk for a situation like this, so he could get him stable until I get back."

Leo's fist slammed into the wall in the back of the van. My heart pounded in my ears as Yasuo's head hung low and Kiyomi was staring at Donnie with sad eyes. Who? Who collapsed? For what reason?

"Leo?" I asked, sounding like a little kid in a thunderstorm.

His eyes didn't meet mine as he sighed. "It's Yoshi."

My hand went to my face as I shook my head. "No, it wasn't real."

"What?" Leo asked.

I started trembling. The visions of Yoshi.

"Alexa," Leo took my hands, "talk to me."

I glanced up at him and I felt my heart skip at his gaze. "I saw…Yoshi, when I was in the other dimension, he was deteriorating. Getting thinner and thinner the longer I focused on the image. He wasn't smiling, and had a dark look to him." I paused remembering when TJ, McKenna, and Chris booted up the portal. "Something's wrong, I told them that. I told them he wasn't well." I rambled. "He was losing himself and I couldn't help." My hands shook violently and my breath was taken. I couldn't breath and I felt trapped. This was just like Tony Stark in Iron Man 3. Was I having an anxiety attack? No, I don't have anxiety. Before I knew it my body involuntarily started to move to the front of the van. "Stop the van." I begged breathlessly. Stumbling, Donnie caught my arm, but I pulled away. "Stop the van!" I said louder and Leonardo brought the monster size vehicle to the side of the road. Tossing the door open, I fell to my knees outside and gasped for air. A hand was on my shell. "I couldn't help him."

"He'll be okay." Leo's voice sounded from next to me. "Calm down, and catch your breath. We'll leave when you're ready."

My eyes squeezed shut and silent streams streaked my cheeks. "Let's go."

Gliding my hand over my eyes, I climbed back into the van and sat in the back. There weren't any real seats so I was on the floor, and Yasuo and Kiyomi curled up against my sides, like they did when they were little. I smiled slightly and put my arms around them, holding them tight as if it would keep them safe from everything. Maybe it would work, if I held on tight enough, maybe I could keep the demons away. Nah, that's wishful thinking. My eyes were glued to the window as the black scenery blurred by.

Leo sat across from me, his feet were resting on the outsides of my ankles. I looked at him. His expression was serious, his lips set in a straight line. Anyone who saw him like this would be intimidated, but Leo and I…we have a connection. With one look we could tell what the other was thinking. Like now, he was giving me the worry look. He doesn't know where I was sent and what I had to deal with alone.

"We'll talk later." I told him as I suddenly had to urge to be next to him.

The ride back wasn't spectacular other than Donnie doing a scan on me to make sure I didn't have any injuries. I just couldn't shake the worry I was feeling about Yoshi. Of course, once the sun started shinning a huge freaking black cloud had to come and rain on my day.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hiya! So this is the chapter that Ciel0307 helped me with. Be sure to check out his story "Fandom Machine" updates may be slow, but the story is awesome!**

Chapter 11

Once the van stopped, I bolted out and ran to the elevator that led to the entrance to the lair. Everyone followed me in and the doors shut. My foot tapped on the floor in anticipation as the gears whirred, making the elevator descend. The large doors opened moments later and I rushed through the doorway. Where was Yoshi? The lab. I took a step forward, but was yanked back by Leo and Raphael. Shooting them a glare, I pulled away from them, but their grip was tight.

"Let me see him." I tugged again as Donnie and Donatello raced past me. Panic bubbled in my throat, and I became more frantic. "Let me go!" I shouted as frustration burst from me. "I can help! I can help! I can help him!"

"Leo, get her out of here." Leonardo told Leo from the lab door.

"No." Something didn't feel right. As soon as Raphael's grip left me, I turned to Leo. Grasping his harness, I looked up to him pleading. "Let me help him. I can heal, remember?"

Sadness coated his eyes and he looked away. "It's for the better."

What? What does that mean? I shoved him again, sobbing, trying to get away from him. How could he? Refusing the chance to heal our son! Suddenly, I couldn't move. A light prick hit my shoulder and everything got fuzzy. Did he just use a tranquilizer on me? He was so going to get it when I wake up!

"It's for the better, Leo, you know that." Mikey's voice ricocheted in my head until everything went black.

"The hell…" I groaned as I started to come around. What a weird dream.

"How are you feeling?"

I yelped as Leo's voice sounded from above me. Sitting up, I stared him in the eyes and remembered that the dream was not a dream. I slapped him.

"Why'd you tranq me?" I asked.

Leo didn't even react to the hit. His chest just dipped down as he let out a long sigh. "Because we couldn't have you heal him."

"Why's that?"

"Because we found out that the healing has a price." Leo said as his thumb stroked my cheek.

"What price?"

His hand rest on my shoulder and pulled me towards him as our foreheads touched. "When we were searching for you, we found Phil's old lab, and well, the healing factor takes a part of your sanity." His large fingers twirled through my hair. "It's like you give a drop of your soul to the person you're saving and they give in return a speck of darkness. That's why we had the tranqs."

I let that sink in. Is that why I got those random episodes of depression? Tilting my head up, our lips met for a moment. "I'm sorry." I whispered.

"Don't be." His voice was quiet and he caught my lips, tugging me closer. "You didn't know."

I didn't argue anymore, it killed me not being close to him. His hand was behind my neck and mine went to his harness. I was so afraid that I'd never see him again. With Leo holding me, we stayed where we were kissing each other on our bed. Damn, I missed him so much. I laughed as he started to kiss my neck, but then there was a knock at the door.

"You two aren't making another one, are you?" Mikey shouted through the door.

"That's it." I clambered off the bed and marched towards the door. "Mikey!" The door was cracked open, revealing Mikey peeking through. Shoving the door open, I sprinted after him. "I'm gonna kill you!"

He let out his high-pitch girly scream as we circled the lair. Everyone was sitting in the center of me and Mikey's goose chase, but I stopped running when I saw TJ out of the corner of my eye. My brows creased together as I took in the familiar face. Mikey, however, took the chance to tackle me. Shouting, we hit the ground. Rolling and fighting, we scrambled around trying to throw the other off.

"Michelangelo!" I used the full name on him, but that just made him laugh harder. Why don't I hit him in the head? The bonehead is immune. Raph hits him so much.

"She's back fer an 'our an' she's already fightin' wit Mikey." Raphael walked into the room.

Mikey quickly stood and yanked me up with him. I smiled at Raph and ran to him.

"Raph!" I hugged him and he awkwardly patted my shell. "You're okay!"

"Alright, Lexa, let go now." He peeled me off.

"Alexa?"

I turned to TJ. Oh yeah, forgot he was there, but I didn't want to deal with him. Honestly, right now, I needed to see Yoshi. I turned to Raph. "Can I see him?"

Raph nodded and led me to the lab. I quickly walked in as the steady beeping sound got louder. Shaking my head, I took in the scene in front of me. Yoshi was covered in IVs and some wire that were connected to the heart monitor. He was thin, too thin, and his cheeks looked hollow. Donnie looked up from next to Yoshi at me as tears rolled down my cheeks. Walking over he engulfed me in a hug. I couldn't deny it, the smart turtle gave the best hugs. Letting myself freely cry, I swung my arms around Donnie.

A soft knock on the lab door made me pull away from Donnie to see Aurora with a cup of coffee. She gave me a small smile.

"Glad to have you back, Lex."

I nodded, swatting away the tears. "Where are all of the kids? Are they okay?"

She waved me off. "Don't worry about them. They're at Casey and April's farmhouse for a vacation." Aurora handed Donnie his cup after giving him a peck on the cheek. She gave Yoshi a sad glance before walking out. "Oh, Steve is here and she wants to check in on you. Is it okay is she comes in?"

I nodded before sitting next to Yoshi, gently, taking his hand. My lip trembled as I fought the thoughts of Yoshi not making it. Looking around, I noticed that the lab was empty. This was my chance. No one would notice if I gave him a little bit of a helping hand. Taking a breath, I closed my eyes and focused. It wasn't long before the friendly sense of warmth crawl out my hands, which grasped Yoshi's. Memories of Yoshi shot across my vision. All of them he was smiling and laughing, the passion for music and knowledge lighting his eyes.

"Donnie!" I heard Steve.

"Alexa, stop!" Donatello shouted as I felt someone yank me away.

I gasped and my body soared as I hit a wall. My hand were pinned above my head. Huh?

Shouting in frustration, I opened my eyes to glare at who snatched me. It was Leo. Instantly, I stopped fighting. His eyes were all I could see as attacks of worry collided into my mind. Leo…

Those crystal orbs begged for me to stand down. I shook my head as my knees started to give out. Leo caught me in an embrace, easily, and I tried to look over his shoulder at Yoshi, but Leo blocked my view. Fighting back my tears, I felt someone staring. I glanced over and saw TJ staring. His face was filled with confusion and concern. I looked away, burying my face in Leo's shoulder. My gut tightened in sorrow as I clung to Leo.

"I remember." TJ said suddenly.

I sniffled. "What?"

His eyes were staring at me, but he was focused somewhere else. "I remember you came back to school, and you wanted to build something big. The rest of that week you were…sad."

I looked at him with my brows scrunched together. "You remember building the portal?"

"Not exactly, but I remember something like it." He scratched his head.

"Yeah, and I went to college for senior year." Kristen added, but her voice was hesitant.

"Bishop sent you back in time?" Mikey asked.

"No, not Bishop." Yasuo walked from Kiyomi's room.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"When we got into the hall you were in, I was able to tap into Bishop's head." Ya-ya looked at all of us. "He actually had nothing to do with this."

"I 'ave da scars ta prove it was Bishop." Raph strolled in.

"Uncle Raph, when we were getting mom…I don't know. It was weird, it was like I was in someone else's mind. Anyway, someone is over him. As unbelievable as it sounds, whoever is bullying him around has him cornered. Bishop seemed like he felt the pressure."

"Oh boohoo, he's finally gettin' what he dished out." Raph crossed his arms.

"This doesn't prove that Alexa was sent to the past." Sam walked up to Raph and rested her hand on his arm.

"Call Chris." TJ said.

"Okay, but he can't see me." I rambled out. "At least, not like a turtle. You weren't supposed to either. How'd you even get here?"

"Umm, long story." TJ chuckled nervously.

I sat down and crossed my arms. "Well, I don't have his number and it looks like I'm on house arrest. I've got time."

He sighed. "Okay, well," he dropped himself onto the couch, "I was in my apartment watching some Youtube when I got this strange feeling. It was unusual, I just had this feeling I screwed up with something. So, I got in my car and just drove to wherever my mind was trying to tell me to go. When I pulled up to your house, I was confused as fuck, but then I just walked in. It was as if my mind was taking over my body. Walking through your house, I went straight for a large window-like contraption and walked through it. That's how I ended up here."

"Hmm." I looked at him. "Well, either the same will happen to Chris or we have to call him. So, shoot him a text or something while we get our disguises activated."

He nodded while the rest of us got our bracelets on and running.

(Chris POV)

The sun cast his long arms through my bedroom window, gently waking me up. I rise slowly out of my bed careful not to disturb those sleeping next to me. My children had had nightmares last night, so of course my wife had to bring them to sleep in our bed. As I cross the room headed to the head, I take a moment to pause and enjoy the beautiful view from our third floor NYC apartment room overlooking central park. I silently tiptoe into my kitchen to whip up a quick breakfast of french toast for the family, I figure we can all have breakfast in bed together while we catch the Saturday morning cartoons.

Carefully I bring up the tray full of food, trying desperately not to spill a drop of orange juice. I smile admiring the sleeping faces of my family, so peaceful, so serene. Unfortunately that's gonna change very soon, unable to hold it in anymore I excitedly shout to my family to wake up, but something is off the voice coming out of my mouth doesn't sound like mine it's deeper, more gravely. Also it doesn't come out sweet like i had planned it to, instead it came out more authoritative, like an order. It was this moment where I realized that none of this was real…

I awake to my roommate shaking me vigorously, yelling at me to get up.

"Your alarm's been going off for freaking hours man get the hell up"

"The hell do you mean, get off of me," I swipe his hands from my shoulders.

"I mean that your goddamn alarm, you hear me, a-larm, A-L-A-R-M," he spells it out, "has been going off for three freaking hours"

"What the ever living shit do you mean? I don't hear anything over the sound of you screaming in my face"

"You sure its me maybe it's you, you're so freaking old you probably need hearing aides."

"Prick," I breath, as he begins to walk out of the room

"Heard that. Just turn your freaking phone off, Pops. "

I take a moment to assemble myself, or what's left of it, after years of the shit I've done to it. A quick search around my bed locates my phone, and honest to goodness the damned alarm is still going off. I stare at my phone as it sits in my hand violently vibrating in a rhythmic pattern, followed by the loud calls of sirens.

"You gonna turn that shit off or not?!" Yells you know who from across the apartment.

As you can see my roommate is a douche. In the douchiest way possible. But at least he has a job and makes rent, at this point that's all that matters. Let's see, you'll probably want to know some basic facts about me. Well for starters, I'm 32 turning 33 this summer. I live in a trashy apartment in the worst part of the city. I work a minimum wage job earning barely enough to buy food. You're probably wondering how this relates to my earlier dreams, well it doesn't, but in a way it does. I mean, why would I trade a fantastic life for a real shitty one, ya know? Truth is I didn't want this life, the one you saw before is the one I really wanted. But that was just a dream I had back in my senior year of high school when I met the girl I wanted to spend my life with. But that girl taught me many things about myself, and I learned many things from her. Most importantly that dreams were just that dreams, pleasant to look at, and so very easy to break. You may be wondering how I had learned that from a sweet, little girl like her, don't worry I'll tell you in due time. For now, back to the story.

After TURNING OFF the alarm (you're welcome douchey roommate), I sit there and stare at my phone again looking at the time, which reads 10:47 AM. Something doesn't line up here why would I set my alarm for around 8:00 AM? I don't go into work until 12:00 PM. So why did I…? Shit. I had a big interview today at an actual job. Why is it everytime I try to better myself it always ends up making it worse?

It was at this point that the shitty day that I was having began to get worse due to that stupid little device in my hands.

As I sat there and stared at my phone, it rang. But the name that came up on the caller id, was one that I hadn't seen in a long time, and frankly one that I didn't want to talk to right now.

His name was Tarik, in high school he was one of my closest friends, ever since 10th grade. But after the incident with my girlfriend we lost touch. He went on to a bigger and brighter future, while I stayed and stagnated hoping for my life to return. Sadly it didn't, and I was stuck in a rut on rock freaking bottom. All thanks to my girlfriend, or rather ex-girlfriend. You see, I loved her more than anybody else I had ever known, and supposedly she had felt the same way. Evidently she didn't. Else she wouldn't have left me broken, without even uttering a single syllable that she would.

Here's how it went down. It was senior year, we flirted throughout the first semester. Picking at each other, our friends picking at us. Then with the advent of a new semester, it became us, instead of me and her. Both of us were very busy, I had to do chores, plus my parents never let me go anywhere; while she always had work. There was hardly a day where we could get together outside of school. So we improvised, we went on mini-dates during school hours since we both had study hall together. It wasn't much but we made the best with what we had.

The end of the year was fast approaching. She was headed off to a technical institute for music down in Tennessee, and I was enlisting to be Marine. Granted we'd be apart for a while, but we knew that we'd be together later in life. Or so I thought.

School ended and we couldn't see each other much. I had restrictive parents, while she had a busy schedule at work. But we both knew that we'd be together one last time at graduation before I left for boot camp.

Graduation came and went like that. *snaps fingers* She wasn't there. She didn't show up. Everything seemed fine the day before so why would she not come? I had thought to myself.

So I went to her house to find the answer. When I got there I was greeted by her gruff but respectable step-dad.

"Can I help you?" he said

I tried to not look intimidated as I said, "Hello, my name's Chris, I'd like to talk to Alexa if that's alright"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to leave, bud."

"Why, what's wrong? Did something happen? Is Alexa alright?"

"Jim, just tell him dear," her mother said emptily from the other room, "he deserves to know the truth just as much as anyone else."

"What are we supposed to tell him?" he growled from the doorway.

"The truth dear, just bring him in here."

So I was guided into the living room by the stepfather, and motioned to sit across from them.

Her mother started, "Dear, I'm not quite sure how to say this, but Alexa is gone."

Her voice sounded like it was near the point of breaking, and her eyes on the verge of tears. The redness around her eyes, along with the ready box of tissues at her side, told me that she had been doing a lot of crying over the past hours.

"What?! I don't understand! How could she be gone?" unease rising in my voice.

"What's there not to understand? She's gone. She left. No longer here. Now I'm going to ask you one more time to leave." Her stepfather chimed in.

"But, I still don't get it. Why did she just leave? She was … We were…" I looked up at them, while my chest felt like it was ripping in two. One half to go find her, and the other to too busy mourning to move.

Of course in life, one side is always stronger than the other. I moved, I moved faster than I ever had before, or so it felt. Time became an odd thing in the ensuing hours. I slipped into sensory overload, tunnel vision, numbness, you name it I was probably feeling it. Anger, sadness, rage, confusion, grief, loathing, pain, well you get the idea. I was more emotional than a hormonal 16 year old on her period.

So I ran, and I kept running. I didn't stop until I was all the way across town. At this tower that was built as a memorial for the Native Americans. I stood at the tallest part of the tower looking over the entire town (Author's Note: The tower is only about one story tall, but it sits on top of the tallest portion of the small town I grew up in.) As I sat there I contemplated the meaning of life, and wondered why some special being, if there is one, hated me so much. I could feel the chill of the early summer evening on my skin, but I didn't really notice or seem to care. All I wanted to know was what I had done. What had I done to make her leave. Or what hadn't I done. Agh it was all so confusing, I had no idea what to do, where to go. I just knew..., I knew that it wasn't over. I would keep moving, look for her, wait for her, whatever it took I would get her back.

So I looked, and looked some more. So with that, I didn't find her. I mean if I wasn't leaving for basic training a week later, I could've done so much more. So it was not to be, apparently.

A week passed by in the blink of an eye, and I left for basic training. Those three months passed by, and I heard not a word from anyone. I came home for ten days and sat around broken and empty inside. I felt like a shell, a hollowed-out form of what was once a person. That's how I went through life for my four years in the Marine Corps. And then the next eleven years after that living as a civilian. Which brings us to today, and this god-forsaken phone ringing in my hand.

I decide to answer,

"Chris L. Local example of life wasted. How may I help you?"

"Chris, I need your help, you see…"

"Well hello to you to Tarik" I interrupt, "How's the wife and kids. Me? Oh you needn't ask; I'm doing just fine."

"Listen, I don't have time for your self-loathing bullshit, just fucking listen to what I'm about to say."

I sigh, "Alright fine. What could be so important that you decide to call me out of the blue fifteen years later?"

"It's about Alexa."

I stop. Literally freeze in place. Everything around me feels cold and distant. Chills descend my spine, giving me goosebumps.

"Who?" I ask just to be sure.

"Don't fucking play dumb with me, Chris. You know exactly who I'm talking about."

"Okay, okay. What about her? What is it you want to say?"

"She's back…, and we need your help."

 **Who's confused?**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"He said he's coming." TJ told us just as we went into our human forms.

"Okay." I answered as Kiyo and Ya-ya stayed close to me. "When will he actually be here?"

"About ten, fifteen minutes." TJ answered slowly as he watched us transform.

I tried to ignore his stare, but for some reason it bothered me. I didn't like him looking at me like I wasn't me. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. Then again, I wasn't originally the best of friends with these people. However, they do mean a lot to me. Even though they weren't my best friends before, if this whole "me being sent to the past" thing is real, they helped me get back home. So I nodded a thanks to TJ and returned to Yoshi's bedside as the guy's tried to figure out a way to bring Chris here without him asking too many questions. He was so much like Donnie, so naturally, he's gonna ask a LOT of questions.

Ever since my episode with Yoshi, I realized that Yasuo or Leo would be glued to my side. Looks like I've lost everyone's ability to trust me alone with Yoshi. As I sat in a chair next to his bed, my hand went to his forehead to feel that he was warm and most likely had a fever. I frowned and Donnie handed me a cool rag. Giving him a quick smile, I placed the rag on Yoshi's head and held onto Yasuo's hand while Kiyomi leaned into my legs as she sat on the floor. Her eyes were lowered to the ground and her hair, now longer with long bangs that were slightly swept to the side. I noticed she was wearing my clothes I handed down to her. Of course, she whined about it when I first gave it to her, but I guess it grew on her. Yasuo's hair, however, was cut short, buzzed even. That was a shocker to me because he hated having short hair in his human form. His fashion didn't change; jeans and a t-shirt. Hmm, everyone is changing their styles. Maybe it's time I do the same. I glanced at Yoshi for a moment before lowering my eyes to find Yasuo and Kiyomi sleeping. Smiling, I kissed the tops of their heads as someone's presence grabbed my attention. Leo was leaning on the wall watching us in his human form, guilt obviously visible in his eyes. My brows creased together as I looked back.

"Leo?"

Suddenly that guilt was gone from his eyes and he smiled. "Yeah?"

"You okay." I asked as he came over with another chair and carefully set it next to Yasuo. When he was positive he could sit without harming Ya-ya, he hung his arm around my shoulders, which I gladly snuggled into.

"Now, I am." Leo sighed as his chin rested on my head.

"Are we just going to keep Chris out of here? I don't want to mess with Yoshi's bracelet when he's like this."

"Yeah." Leo replied quietly.

"Leo, talk to me." His jaw tensed as I looked at him. "What's wrong?"

He sighed before speaking. "It's my fault Yoshi's like this."

"Leo, don't…"

"No, I didn't give him the support he needed. I was so caught up trying to find you, I pulled away from everyone."

I didn't speak, the guilt was eating at him. He felt guilty that Yoshi was fighting to survive. Looking at Yoshi's still form, I frowned.

"We'll get him better again." I said trying to be the positive one. "It wasn't your fault for this. Something cause him to pull away." Most likely me disappearing. I switched my ring on. A little while back, I had Donnie convert my ring into the handy dandy DNA shifter.

"Hey guys, he's here." Donnie piled his head around the corner.

I patted Leo's leg and carefully stood, waking Kiyomi and Yasuo in the process. "Let's go."

We all walked out and saw Chris and TJ chatting and being introduced to everyone. I gravitated towards the front of the group and got down to business.

"Chris, do you remember building a time travel window?" I asked and everyone got quiet.

He looked at me with wide eyes and stared, before shaking his head. "Um not that I recall. Wait, yeah, before you disappeared. We tried building one and we opened a portal or an image of some sort." Chris stopped talking as he thought.

I dropped myself onto the couch tossing my hands to my face. "So that's settled what do we do now?"

"Wait, what?" Chris looked at everyone, searching for an answer, TJ pulled him to the side and explained.

"First, dimension hopping, now time travel?" Mikey shouted.

"Maybe the dragons are involved." Kiyo piped in.

"No, it didn't seem like bishop was worried about Hun." Yasuo argued carefully. "Also, the dragons have been disappearing since we started going toe to toe with them again."

"No, first we have to take care of Yoshi." Leo said in his "leader voice", silencing everyone.

We all agreed.

"Then let me help him." I whispered to him.

Leo gave Donnie a look. "What do you think?"

Donnie crossed his arms. "It's not a good idea, but we're losing him."

I pulled off the sweatshirt I had on and gestured at Chris and TJ. "Okay, somebody fill them in."

My arm was grabbed as I turned around. Yasuo was looking at me with a worried state. "I'm helping, I'll take some of the edge off."

I smiled and rested my hand on his cheek. "I can't have you do that."

"Good thing I wasn't asking." He smiled back.

Dropping my hand, I laughed. "Just like your father."

He shrugged, trying to hide his happiness.

The two of us headed for Yoshi and sat on both sides of him, turning off our disguises. We work in our natural form. The disguises block the healing agent sometimes, and right now, we can't risk failing. Our eyes shut as our minds connected. Images of Yasuo's memories of his big brother flickered as mine tried to peek through. The heat of our hands radiating to our faces, urging us to keep going. Yoshi's first ninjutsu lesson with the Kama echoed. His laughter was light and bubbly as he went through the exercises Leo instructed. Another memory forced that one away. Darkness cloaked the picture, but then I noticed it was the event. A small flame flickered to my right and a fuzzy bubble surround me. Yoshi spoke to his siblings of how he'd always protect them. The memory was an old one. They were four or five and were afraid of the dark. Yoshi would form shields around his frightened siblings. I smiled at the memory and Yoshi started to breath without much effort. Ya-ya took my hand and the power intensified. I felt myself being drained as we worked together, sending our energy to Yoshi. Finally, it was done. We pulled our hands away and waited for something to happen, but nothing did or at least from what I could tell. I was beat. Suddenly, began to sway and I grasped onto the bed for support, but my eyes roll up to my head as I fainted.

"Hey, you're up."

I groaned as I came back into consciousness, placing my hand on my throbbing head. It took a few minutes, but I finally was able to focus on the person in front of me. "Chris?"

He smiled. "Yeah, how you feeling?"

My heart started to race as the walls closed in. Was I sent back in time again? Oh no, oh no. I began gasping for air and grasping my chest as my mind went psychotic. Chris' hand went to my shoulder as he spoke to me, but I couldn't focus on the words coming out of his mouth. Shoving him away, I exited to the room I failed to examine. Finding myself in the lair, I slowly tried to catch my breath. Where am I?

"Alexa," My head snapped to where Donatello was speaking with his hands up in defense, "I need you to take deep slow breaths, okay?"

What? What was Donatello doing here?

"When am I?" I practically shouted. "Where's Yoshi?"

"Yo, Lexa, relax!" Raph called from behind me and I spun on my heel to face him.

"Raph?" I gasped.

"Yeah, now chill!" He shouted.

I looked around and found Donatello, Chris, TJ, Raph, Michelangelo, and Mikey standing around me. Sitting on the couch, I pulled myself together. "I'm sorry."

"It's the side effects." Donatello concluded quietly.

My hands cradled my head as I tried to ignore the comment. "Where is everyone?"

"Mikey, Layla, Sam, and Raph are picking up the kids." Michelangelo said.

"And the others?" I asked.

"Dey had ta check somethin'." Raph snapped.

"And it worked? What about Ya-ya? Is he okay?"

Donatello walked over to me. "Yeah, it worked. Yasuo is just a little worn out, sleeping in his room."

I rushed to Yasuo and found his room and found him fast asleep. Relieved that he was safe, I kissed his head and went to check on Yoshi. He was breathing smoother and the machines were removed from him. A smile stretched across my face as his color was bold in his face. The back of my hand carefully brushed his cheek and he groaned. I stopped and his eyes fluttered open.

"Momma?" His voice cracked.

I stroked his head. "Hi, Watashi no yūkan'na shōnen."

"You're back?" A tear rolled down his cheek.

I nodded and he slowly wrapped his arms around me. My arms cradled him, but I noticed how small he was. It was true. He was slipping away, and I almost lost him. Holding him tighter, I kissed his head.

"I'm back, sweetie."

"I saw you, when you were with your friends, trying to get back. I got the message through to the others, and now you're here." A smile lit up his face.

My thumb dried the tears that rolled down his cheek. "You did. I knew you would get me back."

"You wouldn't have left if I was more careful." He suddenly frowned, pushing away from me.

"No, there was nothing you could've done. Anyway, it wasn't that bad. I got to see my old friends again. It was nice."

He held onto me again. "I failed you."

"No, you didn't. No, Yoshi, listen to me," I made him look at me, "none of this was you fault. What happened was pure accident. Bishop knew someone would be watching us and he did something spontaneous, even uncle Donnie would've missed it."

"I'm not Donnie."

I sighed. Always so stubborn. "Please, don't do this to yourself. What happened happened, okay? We need to move past it." When he refused to say anything, I stood. "Come on, let's get some food into you."

He pouted.

"The healing did bring some of your weight back, I don't know how, but it did." I turned and stroked his cheek. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm fine, mom." He said coldly.

I frowned. "You can't use my line on me."

He remained silent as he strode past me. As I exited the lab with Yoshi, and found Yasuo in the kitchen making something up. Must've eavesdropped on me. I'll let it slide this time.

' _Sorry, mom.'_

I smiled. ' _Don't let me catch you again.'_

He turned and shot me a nervous smile.

While Yoshi ate, the rest of us sat in the family room. An awkward silence choked us as we fidgeted and looked around the lair. Kiyomi was watching something on her laptop and Yasuo looked at TJ and Chris, questioningly. Someone has to crack, and start talking. Chris was peeking over at me when he thought I wasn't looking, before quickly averting his gaze. I moved over towards Kiyomi to see what she was watching, but she paused it and pulled her headphones off.

"Yes?" She asked.

"What are you watching?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Sword Art Online."

My first anime. I smiled. "That's my favorite anime."

Kiyomi's eye ridges raised. "You've watched SAO?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Oh really?" She crossed her arms. "What are the names of the main characters?"

"Katzuo Kiragaya aka Kirito and Asuna Yuuki." I smiled. "The game that they were stuck in was Sword Art Online were the final boss was the creator of the game."

"Okay, well done." Kiyomi smiled. "How far in the series did you get?"

"Beginning of season two." I answered.

Kiyomi unplugged her headphones and patted her hand on the seat next to her as she scooched over. I smiled and accepted the seat. When we were comfortable she pressed play, and the episode start. To my surprise, she was watching it in Japanese with no subtitles. Great, looks like I'm going to have to brush up on my Japanese.

 **A/N: How am I doing guys?**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After a few more episodes, Kiyo zoned off. Her head was leaning on my shoulder as the video played on, so I made sure she was actually sleeping and turned off her computer. It was almost eleven so I could see why she fell asleep. Plus, I don't know how much sleep they really got when I was gone. Carefully, I moved her head from my shoulder to the arm of the chair and tossed the throw blanket that was hanging on the chair, over her. Raph got up from the other large couch and gently lifted Kiyomi. As if on instinct, her arms reached up and wrapped around Raph's neck as he turned and headed to her room. A moment later, he returned to his spot on the couch.

"Thanks, Raph." I smiled.

He just nodded and watched as Donatello and Chris talked.

"Hey, you guys got files on our capture, right?" I asked.

Raph looked at me. "No, you're not looking at them."

"Why? Did Leo tell you to keep me away from them?"

"You don't need to see what's in them." Raph growled, frustration kicked in.

"Fine." I got up and just went to Donatello. He smiled as I walked into the lab.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better, thanks." I smiled before starting to look around the lab.

"Whatcha looking for?" Chris asked.

"Some files." I said honestly.

"Just ask Donnie." He stated before walking over the smaller turtle and Donnie went into the desk and handed a file and a flash drive to me.

"I know Raph didn't want you seeing this, but I think you should." Donatello told me. "Plus, Donnie wanted you to see also."

I nodded my thanks as I sat in front of the computer, and plugged in the drive. Tons of computer files appeared on the screen, I skimmed over the names and clicked on the first one.

" _Day 13. It is about 20 hours, and the subjects are about to start their tests." Phil said as he stood in front of the camera, which cut to a small white room._

Nothing happened for a few moments, the camera just stayed focused on the center of the room, but then I heard someone struggling. Leo was being shoved into the room and the guards were beating him to a pulp. That's when I noticed something, Leo wasn't standing on his own. They must've used some sort of paralysis serum on him. It had to be that because someone was always holding him and he stopped moving as much as he first did. Suddenly, there was blood oozing from various spots. Someone had a hidden knife! I gasped as that familiar feeling of hopelessness grasped me. This memory was one that I couldn't get rid of. Those bastards kept that bloody gown on me for weeks! That damages a person psychologically.

" _Don't kill him yet?" Bishop walked into the room. "Phil, gain her trust. Help them escape, if that's what it takes. Go."_

Phil went off into the room just as I was brought in. A sob ripped through me.

" _You can save him if you want?" Bishop said through the microphone as the camera zoomed in on Leo and I._

" _Yes, I want him to live! Please! I need him to live!"_

" _Then I suggest you cooperate." Bishop smiled at the scene in front of him._

As that girl guard, I don't remember her name, grabbed me and I lost it. Shouting, kicking, and biting I called out to Leo. The camera cut to another observation room where we were dropped. I was attached to a device to analyze what happens when I use my powers. Phil flashed a kind smile as I glared at him and held onto Leo. I watched as Phil told me of my powers and that I could save Leo, but my younger self had trust issues and was not breaking. After finally giving in and healing him, the camera switched to when we were returned to our cells. There were short daily clips of me in my cell, shaking, crying, and ignoring the guys.

" _It is clear that the healing gene did not go as planned. The subject experiences deep depression and mentally shuts down." The camera went to Phil in his small office. "I'm playing around with a few factors, but nothing is changing. We keep having her 'heal' people and sometimes her reptilian friends, but we have to take her memory of it to stop her from realizing the effects and start to ask questions. I can barely keep her from asking about the main project." His hand rustled his hair. "At least I'm gaining her trust," Phil started to laugh in a crazed fashion, "but when she finds out it was a lie. A girl who's been lied to her entire life. She'll never trust anyone again! Not even the mutant scums she's looked up to her whole life!" His laughter was cut off when the camera turned off._

I was just about to close the file when another video turned on.

" _Day 30. Uhhh...it's 23:41. We are about to commence our tenth attempt at solving the fault in the healing factor. Our subject is in the observation room with our new patient. Fourty-seven year old, Karie O'Miles, was caught in the middle of crossfire and has multiple gunshot wounds in her chest and abdominal region." Phil looked exhausted as he described the experiment._

The camera skipped to after the healing. I was in a chair with wires attached to me. Pulling at the restraints, I sobbed.

" _I didn't do it! Let me go!" I screeched. Incoherent mumbles sounded from me._

Leo was thrown into the room. His eyes wide as he looked at me in hysterics. Slowly, he walked up to me as he looked around the room. His hands went to mine making me yelp.

" _Hey it's okay. Calm down."_

" _Leo? Leo? Run you have to go! The monsters! They're getting closer! Run!"_

" _No one's going to hurt you. Just relax." His thumb stroked my cheek as I started to calm down._

Phil walked up behind the chair and stuck me with a needle. Little by little, I fell asleep. Leo sighed and glared at Phil.

" _She won't remember anything?" Leo asked._

" _It'll be as if nothing happened." Phil answered._

The video ended there and I was sitting in the lab with my mouth open. He knew they were doing this to me? Leo, my Leo, let them hurt me and abuse me and mangle with my mind for fun? I was hurt and torn, but I had to find out more. Moving to the hard copy files, I read over all of the descriptions and graphs.

"Hey maybe you should take a break." Chris told me.

"No I have to find out exactly what happened."

He didn't say another word so I returned to my reading. It had everything. Papers recording our conditions from Donnie's bad eyesight to my asthma. There were even plans to what they would've done to the kids. According to those said papers, the triplets would of been used for either further experiments, aka dissection, or trained as a secret service agent. The latter sounds fine, but the treatment would never be close to the preferred. That article, however, led to the four baby I lost. Medical information is dated, but they're recent. No, the baby died! I read through the file of the child to find out the baby was a girl that they named, Yami.

"Momma!" Hope shouted from the family room.

I guess they're back. After I say hi to everyone, Leo and I are having a little talk. The kids rushed me and my fellow turtle girls gave me tight hugs. It was nice honestly, having everyone around again. We chatted and caught up with one another after I introduced Chris and TJ to the family. Surprisingly everyone got along with my past friends really well. It was as if they knew each other their whole life. Joking and laughing, they mingled with my turtle family and the previous tension disappeared. Almost, almost, I forgot about the files and the video. My anger rose and I grabbed Leo's hand, dragging him to our room. He was a bit shocked, I could tell from how he tensed, but let me pull him where I wanted. Once inside, I shut the door and faced him, arms crossed.

"When were you going to tell me?" I snapped.

His brow cocked. "Tell you what?"

"Don't play dumb, Leo. I know you let Phil use me as a personal science experiment."

He didn't answer. It was true! A tear ran down my face. "Why? Why'd you let him do that to me?"

"I-"

"Don't say you didn't have a choice!" My voice rose. "You lied to me!"

He took a step closer to me, but I backed up. "Please I was just trying to protect you."

"Were you? Really?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "Did you know I didn't lose the fourth baby?"

"What?" Leo's gaze became serious.

"Yeah the fourth baby, the one who would've had Mikey's DNA, is alive. You probably knew that, right? You probably work for Bishop!" I accused.

"No, babe, it's not like that." His arms wrapped around me and I tried to keep from giving in.

With much effort I shoved away from him and walked out of the room before he could say anything else. I heard the door open behind me and Leo shouted after me. Everyone got quiet and I could feel their eyes burning into my shell. He said my name again and I tried to hide my tears, making my face stoic.

"What, Leonardo?"

I heard Mikey let out a quick, 'ooooh.' Raph elbowed him.

"Those videos didn't say the whole truth. Phil told me what happens when you heal so I told him to help you. When his antidotes weren't working, he overheard me saying that I didn't want you to remember the trials. So he created the serum for you to forget. Every day I would watch you get sadder and more pulled into yourself as the experiment went on. It wasn't until you went into labor that we were able to go and you be happier away from the cell. Please," he took a step closer, "let me finish saving you."

I wanted so badly to throw myself in his arms but I couldn't. He lied to me. That's when it happened. My chest tightened and oxygen refused to enter my lungs. I grabbed at my throat and chest as I struggled to breath. My knees hit the ground and Yoshi's sheik embraced me. Through blurry eyes, I saw Yoshi standing tall and strong in front of me as Ya-ya stood next to him. Another moment later, Kiyomi's arms were around me and suddenly that knot in my chest was gone. Beyond confused about what just happened, I looked around. Slightly embarrassed by my breakdown, I avoided everyone's gaze.

"Alexa, please." Leo spoke again.

"We have to get her out." I wasn't going to let him forget her. "She is family and we left her there."

He sighed. "Do you really want to go back there?"

"Yes." I answered sharply before turning and going into the lab.

"Mom?"

I turned to find Yasuo standing at the door.

"You okay, Ya-ya?" I asked.

"I have another sister?" He asked me.

I nodded and his face grew sad and confused. If I know my son well enough, I know he's blaming himself because he's the leader of the new team of ninjas.

"No one knew about her. We thought she died early." I told him honestly as I pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry I freaked out in front of you kids. It wasn't right for me to do that."

"I'm glad you did. Not everything can be kept a secret." He said.

That's what I thought about this family at first, but now I'm not sure. When we escaped from Bishop's clutches, I thought that was it we'd never have to deal with him ever again. That was a lie to myself, I should have known that would never happen. My past will always haunt me. Now I'm doing what I used to do to the one who means the most to me. What the hell was my problem? I let Yasuo stay with me for a little until he had to go train. When he left, I went to find Kiyomi. Somehow I was able to avoid Leo, and found Kiyomi in her personal "magic" training tunnel.

"So you're feeling better with the flame, huh?" I smiled as she make a small flame in her hand.

She shrugged. "Not really."

"Why?"

"Because." The flame vanished as her shoulders slouched.

"Don't be afraid of it. That flame has been your best friend since you were little, it is a part of you. The only thing you need to do is find yourself." I set my hand on her arm. "Try again."

She nodded and took a breath. Kiyo closed her eyes and her brows pulled together. I stepped back to give her room and watched as she pulled her hand forward to catch the flicker of light growing in her palm. Just as she did when she was little, the flame waved calmly with each breath she took. A graceful smile pulled at her lips.

"I can feel the connection, momma." She laughed as she opened her eyes to look at the light. "I'm not afraid anymore."

I stayed with Kiyomi as she played around with what she could do with her gift. She had it almost dancing in a way. I'll have to get her to try the firebending forms from avatar. That would be awesome if they worked! It'll have to wait for later. Yasuo ended up coming over to watch too and congratulated her on her accomplishment, but Yoshi wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Ya-ya, where's your brother?" I asked getting nervous.

"Last time I saw him was in his room."

"I'll be back." I told them as I got up and went to see if he was there.

I walked inside and everyone was crowded in the dojo as classes started. Chris and TJ stayed in the back as the others paired up. Maybe I'll check in quick before going to get Yoshi. Striding over to the dojo, I walked in. Mikey was paired with Raph and he was using his annoying jokes to throw Raph off balance. Growls erupted from Raph, but were cut short when Mikey's foot swung around hitting Raph in the plastron. He got some air and landed with a thud. Chris muttered an 'ouch' next to me, and I stepped forward. Mikey smiled and waved.

"Hey Dudette, over here!" He shouted, but quieted as Leo walked over. "Uh, I mean, Leo's open for a match." Then he joined the crowd.

If Leo and I had an argument, which wasn't often, we'd work it out through ninjutsu. I stood in front of him and got into a fighting stance, Kamas in hand. He unsheathed his katanas and held them tightly. Tension was high as Leonardo gave us the go ahead to start sparring, but neither one of us moved. Anyone who didn't know me would think I was overreacting about Leo not telling me about the thing with Phil, but those who know me know I've been through shit that screwed me over. From generated universes, to evil villains who of course lie, to now. Finding out that the one closest to you has kept you in the dark hurts. I've been lie to a lot in my life by people who shouldn't. Leo promised that if we found out anything about what happened, we would tell the other. We'd never let the other be left in the dark.

I gritted my teeth as I rushed forward and attacked. My Kamas swiped through nothing as Leo dodged my attack. One after the other, I noticed he was just dodging.

"I know I screwed up, but there was a reason you couldn't handle." Leo told me as he went to his knees, bringing his katanas up to meet my Kamas.

I pressed my weight into him. "Leo, where'd the hell have you been!" He pushed up, forcing me to take a few steps back to balance myself. "If I would've know at the beginning I wouldn't have used my healing as much an I would've taught Yasuo to limit himself to!" I hooked my Kamas at him again. "What do you think this is doing to him? Yoshi is already pulling away from us." Leo twisted my Kama out of my hands and Leo grabbed my wrists. Grunting, I tried to get out of his grip. "Leonardo! Let me go!"

He released his grip, but blocked me from leaving. "I didn't have a choice!" He shouted making me freeze. He never raised his voice at me like that. I stared up at him with wide eyes. After a moment he sighed and he backed up putting his hand to his face.

It was then that I noticed the dark circles under his blue mask. I hesitantly walked up to him and took his hand, leading him through the diminished crowd; which consisted of Chris, TJ, Yasuo, and Kiyomi. I took him into our room and sat on the bed. His eyes were lowered to the ground and his head was slightly bowed. My hands went to the now brightly colored mask and guided the mask off. The dark under eyes vibrant eyes were more visible now. A frown pull at my lips.

"I did this to the family." I finally said. "If I would've just kept walking with Raph, Bishop wouldn't have seen me. Here I am pissed at you for trying to help me and I left you." The realization rushed me. "I hurt Yoshi. He's pulled back because I was stupid enough to think I could go against Bishop."

A large hand rested around me. I let it guide me down onto the bed as Leo stayed with me. "It wasn't your fault. Yoshi will come around."

My lip quivered as Leo spoke and I heard how tired he was. "How do we get him back?"

"Patience."

My hand was set on his plastron and his other hand was wrapped around mine. His arm was around me, cradling me against his side. I started to pull away as Yoshi entered my mind. Unlike Leo, he let me go. My heart ached at the gesture, but I lightly kissed his lips as he drifted to sleep.

"I'm sorry." I whispered and left the room.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Yoshi!"

"Yoshi!"

Yoshi was gone! When I went into his room, and it was empty. I panicked and the others helped me search. Splinter said he'd watch the kids while we were out, but Yasuo wand Kiyomi were determined to come.

We searched the sewers and the abandoned buildings nearby, however, he was nowhere to be seen. Donnie was trying to track his phone as we ran in groups to cover, at least, a majority of the city. My turtles stayed in their group, taking to the rooftops downtown. Casey came along with me, Yasuo, and Kiyomi as we covered the opposite direction via rooftops. The 2K3 turtles stuck to the sewers, hoping to find him safe and sound down there. Sam, Aurora, and Layla filled in the other groups. Layla was with me, Rora with the 2K3 turtles, and Sam was with our turtles. We've been at this for hours and a sickening dread sat deep within me. What if, what if he ran away? I felt another attack threaten to slow me, but I focused on Yoshi's smiling face and being able to just live without someone trying to kill us. My arms pumped harder as the thought of Bishop probably having Yoshi fueled my anger. He would never touch my kids!

"Mom!" Yasuo shouted, snapping me out of my daze. I turned to face him, but he pointed behind me with a paled face. "We're in trouble."

Following his finger, I found Bishop standing on the next building. A low growl ripped through my throat. That irritating grin was on his face. "Bishop, stand down now! You don't want to mess with me right now!" I shouted at him.

"Yeah, you don't want to mess with us!" I heard TJ yell from behind me.

Spinning towards his voice, I saw TJ and Chris running to catch up to us. "What the hell are you two doing?" I snapped.

"We're not letting you do this on your own." Chris told me.

Even though I was beyond pissed, I nodded my thanks. I was happy to be near them, especially Chris. Hmm...what was that about? My attention was turned back to Bishop who was laughing, but it didn't sound like him. I froze and stared. "Who are you?"

"Ah, very observant, my darling. I am not this Bishop, you speak of. I had to put him out on a short break, he was getting in the way of my plans." The man spoke.

I watched as his team started to surround us. "That's it! I don't give a fuck who or what you are! You will leave us alone!"

"Oh, I guess you want us to keep your children."

A shuriken cut through the air and the man vanished. "The hell?" Kiyomi whined.

"Stay on guard. There was no place for him to go." Yasuo said, easily slipping into his leader mode.

My eyes stayed on the soldiers as they inched their way closer. "Chris, TJ, you two go. Get the others. We'll buy you some time."

"Not happening." Chris said as he put himself in front of me, which of course, I shoved him behind me.

"Don't be stupid, guys. I have training behind me, you don't, go!" My eyes narrowed as I sensed someone behind me, but someone hit me in my head, hard, before I could react. I fell to the ground, blinking the stars out of my vision. The fight had begun, and I couldn't get my sight to clear up. A foot connected with my stomach, knocking the air out of me.

"Pack 'em!" A man shouted.

NO! I had to get them back! I felt my hands being pulled behind my shell and then I was being lifted. The pain in my stomach limited my ability to fight back, but my sight was clearer now. I was being led down the fire escape into a van where the kids and TJ and Chris were being loaded up into. Yanking slightly away from the soldier holding me, I received a harsh shove. I winced at the sudden movement and was thrown into the van. Landing hard on my shell, I launched myself back up on my feet and threw my shoulder into the door. When the door refused to budge, I went at it again and again. Shouting and swearing, my calls went unheard.

"Mom, stop!" Kiyomi shouted.

"That's not going to help anything." Chris said.

I took a few breaths and slide down the side of the van, groaning at the bruise that was throbbing on my plastron.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" TJ asked Ya-ya.

I glanced over at him to find him rocking as his eyelids drooped. My brows creased together as I shifted over to him. "Ya-ya?"

He moaned and went limp.

"Yasuo?" I nudged him again, but his breathing indicated that he fell asleep.

"So how are we getting out of here?" Chris asked.

"McKenna, she'll show up soon, right?" TJ said.

"Thats right! It happened to you guys too. Kenna will come." Kiyomi said. "Who's that?"

"You'll find out soon." I said.

"Why did Yasuo pass out?" Kiyo asked, hesitantly, looking at her brother.

"Probably because of his powers they don't want him contacting the others." I explained. "They'll keep his mind fuzzy so we can't…" My eyes widened. "…it's going to be nearly impossible to get out of here. Whoever this is, is going to just finish what Bishop started."

There was a long silence.

"What'd he do?" Chris asked.

"He wasn't finished with me." I mumbled to myself.

"Momma?"

I jolted as Kiyomi called out to me, but I saw her as a small child. Tears streaking her face, after a nightmare haunted her. My eyes were glued to hers.

"Mom." She bumped her shoulder with mine.

"Y-yeah." I said shaking my head.

"We're getting out of here." She said.

"Kiyomi, you don't know what we're being thrown into, I do. We got lucky the last time. If it wasn't for Bishop's plan, we wouldn't have gotten out. Then…oh god what would he do to you kids?" I started to tremble. The files! They'll be turned into brain-washed slaves! Or-or worse! Dissected! A pair of cuffed hands went to my arm..

"Hey, he's not going to hurt them." I looked up to see Chris, they cuffed him with his hands in front.

"You don't know him." My eyes blurred from the bubble of emotions.

Panic filled my gut as the van jolted and slammed to a stop. I tried to keep Kiyo and Ya-ya from being thrown like Tarik and Chris. Cringing at the guys, the doors opened and they were dragged out. Kiyo, Yasuo, and I were next. The guards tried to take them away from me. I shouted and swung my legs at them, hitting some. Unfortunately, more arrived and tackled me to the ground. I watched as the others were being dragged away and the guard yanked me to my feet.

"Get moving!" The man shoved me towards another door where my gear was taken. This process wasn't done nicely. Taunts and jeers were thrown between guys as they tore at my clothing until it was gone. Being a turtle, it doesn't really matter, but we always wear clothes so it had the same effect: total embarrassment.

My arms were tied painfully behind my shell again, as I was pushed forward, until we got to a large door at the end of a long and empty hallway. I was stopped and struck at. Everything went black for a moment before the throbbing of my head gave me something to focus on so I wouldn't pass out. My eyes fluttered as I tried to focus and look around. A large dome-like room was visible, lined with dark colored bricks, and cells wrapped around the room. The cells were strange; they looked invisible actually. A small smeared look gave away their location and the large old fashioned lock added to it. Basically it looked like they were floating locks surrounding me.

Above, there was a bright circular light, illuminating the room as if it were the sun. It was so bright that my eyes burned even as I looked away. Through my tears, due to the light, I tried to look for the kids and Chris and TJ, but I found no one. I was alone.

"Hello, my dear." Bishop's voice sounded from behind me.

I gasped and stared at him.

"Just like old times, huh?" His fingers went through my hair and I pulled away. "Still as feisty as ever. I was hoping for that. With the healing affecting you, I wasn't sure if it broke you."

"What the hell do you want?" I shouted as I yanked on the restraints.

Bishop started to morph into someone new. This man was taller, broader, with jet black hair and hollow eyes. He looked to be around his early thirties with a slightly higher voice than most men, but he still held a demeanor of power. My eyes widened at the man.

"Who are you?" My eyes narrowed.

"Your not so friendly neighborhood shifter." He grinned.

Shifter? What the hell? My eyes were wide, staring at the man in front of me.

"I bet you're confused and you want your family, right?" He stroked my head and I grimaced away. "Don't be frightened, I'm only going to harm you a little bit." He laughed as he walked away.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Hey! Get back here!"

"Oh, I'll be back soon, my dear." His voice hummed as the door shut.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." I started yanking on the restraints and whimpering. "Come on!"

They weren't budging. Tears of frustration rolled down my cheeks as I got nowhere closer to escaping. My mind raced and a blinding light shone on my face. I shut my eyes quick, but cracked them open when the sounds of footsteps got closer. My heart pounded hard in my chest begging to escape.

"Hmm, I wonder what this one does?" The man from before stated the silhouette of a knife caught my gaze.

I gasped.

Closer and closer, the blade approached my skin until finally he jabbed my arm with it. I screamed, but his hand went over my mouth. The blade, still in my arm, was left there as the man leaned forward.

"You're all alone, now." He chuckled. "What are you going to do?"

I just stared at him, keeping my glare strong.

"Well, you are a fighter. I can tell that." His thumb roughly swiped away my tears. "That won't be a hard fix. I see the struggle in your eyes. You're tired and torn." His hand went off my mouth.

Quickly, I averted my eyes. "Go to hell."

Before I could react, his hand hit me hard in the face. A second later, he was forcing me to look him in the eyes. "You will respect me!" He shouted. Slowly, he regained his cool. "Throw her in the cell."

The cells appeared, the knife was removed and I was shoved in. I landed on the cold smooth floor with a thump and the door was slammed shut. Scrambling backwards, my heart raced as I took in my surroundings. They took my cuffs off so, I held my hand firm to the knife wound on my arm. Chris, TJ, Leo, and the triplets were around me, staring. TJ and Chris were in a white t-shirt and white pants and the others were lacking their gear, like me. Their faces held looks of anger and frustration, but cleared to surprise as my eyes went to theirs. I jumped to my feet and went to race to them, but I ran into a clear wall. Falling backwards, I rubbed the now sore spot on my face. Ouch! What the hell is this?

"Leo!" I shouted and hit the glass.

He didn't even flinch at his name. Wait, can't they hear me? I hit the glass again, but still got no response. I can't tell you how long I was at that glass, but my fists were starting to bruise so I assume it was a while. Rubbing my sore fists, I paced around the room. How big was this place? What did they want to do with us? Suddenly my cell was open and I was forced out. This time instead of a chair the room was empty and darker, but Chris and Leo were on the ground unconscious. Rushing over to them, my fingers went to their necks. I sighed in relief as the small bump, bump, of their pulse told me they were alive.

"They won't last much longer…" That Shifter from before waltz over. "...the mutagen is reconstructing their DNA. Well, retro mutagen for the green one."

I gasped. "You're mutating them?"

"Ah, but Darling, you can try and convince someone you may know to do it for you."

None of the triplets can control all substances. That means it's…

"Yami, how wonderful of you to join us." The shifter smirked as a slender turtle with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes appeared.

My eyes widened. We found her.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, mother."

Did she just read my mind?

"Oh my god, yes I did!" Yami's hand slid down her face. "Did no one tell her that I have my youngest brother's power, plus something a little more interesting? By the way, what the hell did you do to the shield wielder? Looks like you locked him in a closet or something. You know food is a necessity."

I stared at her, shocked that she was standing in front of me.

"Well, don't just stare, you have some people to save." She waved at Chris and Leo. "Maybe just saying please, I may do it."

I looked at the two of them and asked. She shrugged and went to the two of them. A hand on each of them, her eyes were closed. The neon green and purple wove through their veins, I could actually see it. Both bodies were already responding to the effects, but as Yami drew the invader out, they returned to normal. When she opened her eyes, the intrusive ooze cover her hands, but it didn't react or burn. My eyes widened in fascination. How? How was she able to hold this stuff? Shaking my head I rushed to check Chris and Leo. Chris was the first to wake.

"Ah, what a weird dream," He opened his eyes, "that is completely real."

Chris sighed and pulled himself up into a sitting position as I rushed to Leo's side.

"Leo, wake up." I shook him lightly as the guys got the kids out. "Leonardo."

He groaned and opened his eyes. "Let's get out of here."

I nodded and helped him up.

"Mom?" Kiyo asked, getting my attention. "What are we doing with her?"

I turned to my presumed deceased daughter. She had her arms crossed and shrugged.

"I heard that the chameleon brought you all in and well, he's not good at keeping his mind closed off. Basically told me everything."

"She needs to be home." Yasuo said as he held his head. "It's where she belongs. Plus, it'll be nice having another turtle with telepathy in the house."

I rolled my eyes. Yeah that's exactly what we need.

"I'm guessing many funny stories about that." Yami said.

I nodded, but looked at Leo.

"Like I said let's get out of here, all of us." He turned and started to leave the cell room.

"Sorry, but I can't." Yami said.

We all stopped.

"Why's that?" Yoshi asked.

"Because they have a chip implanted in her." Yasuo explained.

 **A/N: Please Review! : )**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

After discussing what to do with Yami and her little issue, we all agreed on just getting her out of there and finding somewhere to extract it. Yami, at first, seemed nervous about leaving, but she still continued on with us. As we made our escape, alarms sounded. That shifter probably found us gone and now the search team has been sent out. Yami led the group, Yoshi stayed next to Yami, Kiyomi and Yasuo were next, and Leo and I slowed to the back. Since she knew the place, Yami would be able to get us out of here the quickest. So, we kept running and avoiding as guards would run by. To my surprise, Yami ran silently. Did they teach her some ninjitsu here? I pushed the thought away for the moment so I could focus on getting everyone out of here, but suddenly Yasuo stopped.

"Wait." He said and looked around. "Yeah."

"What?" Leo asked.

"Your people are here." Yami answered and sighed, running in the other direction.

Yasuo followed her with Kiyo in tow. I glanced at Leo and we turned to follow them. The four of them ran together and when some guards would appear one would jump ahead and quickly take care of the threat, before falling back in line. Already, they were a team.

After a series of twists and turns, the others appeared in front of us. Both 2k3 turtles and the rest of my turtles were fighting side by side with my fellow turtle sisters. Kiyomi shouted and attacked one of the soldiers with her fire molded katanas, which sliced through all of the weapons that attacked. Any lingering flame was drawn back to her for the next attack. Yasuo dodged and counterattacked strikes as they happened, clearly reading their minds. A smirk graced his face, probably from him taunting his opponent as they fought. I jumped into the fight wishing I still had my weapons. Yoshi, however, was like his siblings and not having a problem. His shields were making his strikes stronger and sent soldiers flying across the room.

"Mom!" Yami shouted and tossed me my Kama.

I smiled and easily catching them, before hooking someone's ankle and tripping them. "Thanks!"

The others now had their weapons returned, and we completely joined the rest of our group. Mikey, Raph, and Donnie kept staring at Yami in-between attacks. I could see why they did. Her form was almost as perfect as Splinter's. No doubt she was trained here, but by who is the question. Flinching, Leo's katanas crossed above me as some idiots tried to strike at me. I smiled at Leo and kicked the guy in the stomach before rolling away. The two of us rushed to the more concentrated group of soldiers and Leo went slightly in front of me so he could toss me into the center, where Raph was trying to fight them all himself. With one swift toss, I was behind Raph and dodged an oncoming attack.

"Watch your shell, Raphie." I told him.

"Alexa?" He turned slightly. "Duck!"

I dropped to the ground and Raph's Sai flew above my head. His hands lowered and I looped my Kama onto his Sai and he swung me in a circle. My feet hit the group around us and I released my hold and landed next to Layla. We stayed back to back striking at anyone who got to close and, of course, Layla was spouting out insults. After the numbers dwindled, we split. I looked around to see if anyone needed help or if I could attack anyone, and decided to head back to the teens. Everyone was working together smoothly, until Yami was grabbed by that shifter guy. We all stopped.

"I was trying to be kind of nice to you and this is the thanks I get." The shifter frowned and shoved Yami to the ground. He had a small clicker in his hand and pointed it at Yami. "Now, you will all be brought to the cell hall without any funny business, or else little Yami here is going to get a small shock."

Yami glared at the man. "Stop being an ass."

The man tensed and pressed the button. Yami seized and shouted on the ground and Yasuo collapsed too, grasping his head. I stepped forward, but Yoshi put his arm ahead of me. Seconds later, Yami stood up and nailed the shifter in the face. Yasuo was okay now too.

"Let's leave, now." Yoshi told the others and turned and walked out.

We all followed, but I stopped for a second to see the shifter gone. Yami stumbled a bit, but Leo quickly scooped her into his arms. To be expected, she tried to fight, but relaxed into his arms. I felt a familiar energy run through Yasuo and I's bond, he was healing Yami. Most likely that shock caused some nerve damage. We'll I can't have him do this himself. I focused on Yami and started healing. Usually if I wasn't touching the person I was healing it's difficult for me, but since Ya-ya was helping it didn't feel as much of a strain.

"I know how to fix the effect." Yami said with much fatigue in her voice as we exited the building.

"The healing effect?" Donnie asked.

"mhmm." She nodded. "They have the files in the office, and I might've downloaded them on this flash drive." Yami held a small flash drive in her hand.

I took it from her and tossed it to Donatello. "Looks like we're going to get some answers."

We arrived at the vehicles and piled in. Both the Party van and the Battle Shell were parked in front of us. The Party van became more of an ambulance van and the Battle Shell had all of the weapons. So the teens, minus Yami, went into the Battle Shell with Leonardo, Raph, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The rest of us went into the Party van. Donnie worked on Yami while Donatello took the flash drive to start studying. Mikey was driving and the rest just sat around. The Battle Shell's radio was connected to ours so we could keep communication and drove off. Yami was okay, and drifted off to sleep after driving a while and Donatello was still going through the flash drive.

"So, Donnie? You think you could track the chip and remove it?" I asked.

He looked up and pushed his glasses up. "I hope so. It seems that the chip is almost like an electric dog collar. The wearer leaves the boundaries and they receive a shock. I don't understand how it's not shocking her now."

I sighed. "Yoshi…"

"That's gotta be it." Mikey said from the driver seat.

I nodded. "Could you...extract it in here?"

Donnie's eyes widened, but nodded. "We have the supplies, I'd feel more comfortable if we stopped. If we hit a bump in the road and my hand slips…"

"I understand." I cut him off.

"Mikey, find somewhere to stop." Leo ordered. "Let the others know."

Mikey did as he was told and fifteen minutes later we were pulled to the side of the road. Donatello found where the chip was, using an X-ray, and Donnie prepped Yami. The rest of us stayed outside the van so the brainiacs could work in peace. Yoshi sat next to the Party van to close the distance between him and Yami to make holding the shield up easier. I watched as he focused and his siblings moved next to him. They were always stronger together. It's not always a weakness, like some of our enemies have claimed, on their own they lack some components.

"So did Donatello tell you anything about what's on the flash drive?" Aurora asked.

I shook my head. "No, not yet."

She hung her arm over my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. "It might be a good idea if they figured it out first. You've been through a lot recently."

I nodded.

"It's not that you're not strong enough." She smiled and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. "You're too strong that you'll face it head on, but you end up getting hurt. You need a break sometimes."

I smiled back at her. "Thanks Rora."

"It's what I do." Rora patted my knee and walked away.

"Uh, guys?" Chris called us over. "Raph, uh, I mean, McKenna just texted. She's freaking out wondering where Alexa is. I think she remembers."

"Where is she?" Raphael asked.

"Here let me just call her." Chris said and dialed McKenna's number.

"Is she answering?" TJ asked.

Chris shoved his finger in TJ's face, signaling him to shut up, but TJ is Mikey.

He made this high-pitch feminine screech and swatted at Chris. "Mmm, you need some milk."

I face palmed myself, but also tried not to laugh. Good ol' TJ. Chris did crack a smile, but put his phone down.

"No, she didn't answer."

"You think she found the lair?" Mikey asked.

"Well, if Chris and TJ did then, yeah possibly." I answered. "We'll head out after Yami is taken care of."

"Well, she's done." Donnie poked his head out of the van. "Let's head out."

We all climbed into the vans and headed home once again. This time we didn't take any more pit stops and made it back to the lair before daybreak. Leo carried Yami into Kiyomi's room and we settled down for the night. Everyone went to sleep and I took my rounds around the lair to make sure everyone was alright. I'd just listen to find out if anyone was tossing and turning, this was mostly for the kids though. I ended with Kiyomi's room and heard muffled voices. Carefully, I closed my mind and listened. Kiyo and Yami were awake and chatting quietly. A few light giggles escaped the room before a bunch of 'shushes' were tossed around. I smiled and let the two chat a bit longer. They were bonding, this is good. So I returned to my room and snuggled up next to Leo. His arm on instinct wrapped around me. I grasped onto his arm and closed my eyes.

"How are you holding up?" He asked with his eyes shut.

"We got her back." I smiled and a tear rolled down my cheek. Unintentionally, ignoring the question. I quickly added. "I'm great."

"Yeah, well make sure whoever is messing with us stops. We'll get our answers."

"Leo, I'm sorry." I clung to him.

"What's wrong, Love?" He asked and held me tighter.

"I didn't trust you, and I should've. I'm sorry I didn't believe you and I'm sorry I refused to hear you out." I sat up to look at him. "We're a team and I wasn't being a very good team player."

His hand went behind my neck and he gently brought my head to his lips as he placed a kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes. "You were right, though. I should've told you what I knew once I found out, and I lied to you. We made a promise to each other and I broke that promise. From now on, I swear on my life that I will always be truthful to you."

"Do you think Yami really has the answers?" I asked.

Leo sighed. "I hope so, but I don't like the name they gave her.

"We should talk to her about it, but I agree. I don't agree that they named her 'darkness' in Japanese. What were you thinking?" I asked.

"Emi, it means blessing." Leo stated.

I smiled. "I like it, but it's what she wants to be called."

Leo cleared his throat and nodded to the door. "We have guests."

I looked down towards the door and found Yasuo, Kiyomi, Hope, Yoshi, and Yami stood behind the door. They shoved Yasuo to the front, and stepped back. Cocking my eyebrow, I listened to what they had to say. Yasuo shrugged.

"So since we have Yami back, we all just thought that, uh, we could...I don't know….bunk in here?" Yasuo smiled nervously.

I couldn't help the smile that crept it's way to my face and glanced at Leo who pulled himself up and opened the blankets to the,

"Come on, hop in." Leo said in a stern voice, but smiled.

They clambered on, but Yami hesitated. Everyone was squeezed in between me and Leo, laughing, but stopped when Yami stayed where she was. I got up and walked in front of her. She kept her light eyes to the ground. My hand went under her chin and she flinched. Slowly, I lifted her gaze to me. She looked confused and worried. Was she worried that we wouldn't accept her? I let my hand fall and wrapped her in a hug. Yami tensed at the action, but slowly wrapped her arms around me. Soft crying sounded from her as she buried her face into my neck. I stroked her hair and kissed her head.

"You're home, Sweetie." I told her.

"I don't want anything to do with my old life." Yami said.

"How about the name dad suggested?" Yasuo asked.

Yami looked at Leo, searching his mind for the suggestion. A smile tugged at her mouth. "I like it."

"Okay, don't leave us, non-mindreaders, out of the news." Kiyo groaned.

"Emi." Yami, now Emi, announced.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Alright, now, everyone in bed." I herded them onto the mattress.

This time Emi crawled in and snuggled against her siblings. Leo shut the light off, we said our goodnights, and I was able to fall asleep easily. My family was returned, but the real battle was still ahead of us. We had to take down this shifter and make sure he never bothers us again.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

We were all crowded in the lab watching as Donnie did some blood work on the teens and analyze it. With the notes from the experiments, we'll finally have solid proof of what Bishop was trying to do to us. As we waited patiently, Donnie and Donatello worked.

After the tests, the 2k3 turtles returned to their dimension. They said that they had some issues back at home that they had to take care of. It was nice seeing them again. After, the teens still had to go to training, despite the excitement of the morning, and Emi even joined in to sparring. Of course, she was hesitant at first, but with some persuasion she was sparring with Yasuo. That was interesting to watch, since both of them could read each other's minds, it was like we were watching the fight in fast forward. As soon as one attack was executed the next was already in tow. Yoshi and Kiyomi, however, learned to block him out when they would spar or, mostly in Kiyomi's case, try to beat him to a pulp in a fit of rage. That only happens because Ya-ya taunts them.

"This is strange." Donnie adjusted his glasses.

"What?" Leo asked with his arms crossed.

"It looks like they, to put in simpler words, mixed our DNA. For example, Ya- Emi's DNA is a combination of Mikey, Leo, and Alexa's DNA." Donnie explained.

"And what about me and Yasuo?" Kiyomi asked.

"Kiyomi, you have your dad, your mom, and Raphael." Donnie answered. "Yasuo, yours is just your mom and dad. Yoshi has your mom, dad, and mine."

The teens looked at each other, then back at me and Leo.

"What do we do now?" Emi asked.

"Nothing. Nothing changes." Leo answered. "Why don't you four go on a walk around the tunnels? Show Emi around."

The four nodded and walked off.

"Can I go?" Hope hugged Leo's arm and gave him giant puppy eyes.

He smiled and went down to her height. "As long as you stay close, and listen to your siblings."

She did a little happy dance, and jogged after the teens. The younger kids were playing in the dojo for now, so all of the adults were now left in the lab.

"We can make the antidote for the healing." Donnie added. "It's a simple compound to create, but the chemicals needed are going to be a bit difficult to get."

I nodded. "Yasuo gets treated first. Then if there's enough after that."

Leo didn't like it, I could tell that. "Where do we find the chemicals?"

"All over, but they're hidden." Donnie answered. "It's going to take a while to extract them."

"How long exactly?" Sam asked.

"A year and a half, if we're lucky." Donnie sighed and turned to his computer. "The ingredients are links or gateways to other dimensions, so the people around it who are aware of its existence are going to be guarding it. We not only have to be careful not to trigger the dimension jump, but also not harm the people guarding the said ingredients."

"Well, that shouldn't be too difficult." Chris pipped in.

"How?" Raph snapped, and Sam laid her hand on his massive arm.

"TJ and I could do some research on the area and we can be our spokespeople, then you all can sneak in and do what you have to do." Chris explained with a shrug.

"Problem is, there are four main components." Donnie rested his chin on his hand.

"Then we'll split. McKenna can help too. We have the numbers, it's just depends on a plan and executing it properly."

We all thought about it for a second. I'm not all that educated in this stuff, but it's worth a try. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? We could just not get the supplies we need and prolong the time, but that's okay as long as we know how to make it.

"Oh man…" Donnie muttered.

"Donnie, I hate when you do that." Mikey whined.

"What now?" I asked.

"Looks like we are going to do some more dimension hopping. The compounds shifted."

"Where to?" Leo asked.

"Are they in the same dimension?" I asked.

"I can't pinpoint exactly where, but they are not in the same dimension." Donnie pinched the bridge of his nose. Aurora massaged his shoulders and tension from them disappeared.

"Donnie!?" McKenna's voice carried into the lab as she shouted at Chris.

I quickly switched my bracelet on and got ready to greet her. She stormed into the lab and froze staring at the guys. A huge smile lit her face.

"Kenna, you okay?" Chris asked, shaking her shoulders.

She let out a squeal. "It's the ninja turtles!" Her fit stopped when she spotted Raph in the corner. McKenna's jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

I stepped forward which grabbed her attention. She turned towards me.

"Alexa?"

I waved. "Hey Kenna."

She ran into me and hugged me. "Alexa!"

After I caught my breath from her crushing hug, I patted her back. "Yeah, and we need some help."

She pulled back. "Sure, what's up, Leo?"

"We need some numbers for a mission we're on."

She nodded with excitement. "Uhuh."

"There are some ingredients we need for an antidote are scattered around the world and in different dimensions." I started to explain.

"An antidote? What for?" She asked.

"Um, we have a lot of explaining to do." I started to lead her into the other room, but when we entered the room, we weren't alone. "Bishop."

Bishop, the Shifter, and Bishop's team were standing in front of us with a hostage in their arms and a gun to their heads. Tears streamed down the faces of the younger children as they whimpered and stared at us for help. I clenched my fist, trying to keep myself from charging at them. The guys were around me, hands twitching by their weapons. Bishop hesitantly stepped forward and folded his hands behind his back. The shifter was grinning behind him.

"As you can tell, you are left with nothing to do. Hand over the child, Yami," He waited a moment, and when we didn't respond he continued, "or we will take a replacement." He turned to the kids. "These will do. Young, naive, trusting."

"Sir, we found more." A soldier stated as Yasuo and Kiyomi were shoved into the lair. My eyes widened.

The Shifter chuckled and Bishop grabbed Kiyomi. "Hmm, how about this one?"

Kiyomi tried to free herself, but to no avail, Bishop had an iron grip on her.

"Bishop, let her go." Leo demanded. Bishop did as he was told and Leo carefully started to walk forward. "You can take me, just let the kids alone."

Bishop didn't answer to Leo's deal, he just watched as Kiyomi slipped away. More soldiers rushed in and Leo stopped for a second. Tension was high, and Bishop and his sidekick were using this as a game. Bishop nodded and four soldiers restrained Leo.

"Is this one enough for what you, I mean, we have in mind, Kellan?" Bishop asked his partner.

Kellan, the shifter, glanced up at the rest of us as his eyes shone gold. "Yes, if there were more of them, then there will be an advantage to them. Easily they could throw together a plan of escape."

"And the others?" Bishop asked.

"I have something else in mind for them." Kellan's smirk grew as he looked at me.

Leo was then, abruptly, attacked. I ran forward towards him, but was stopped by the surrounding soldiers.

"Let me go!" I kept trying to press through, but these soldiers were strong even for my mutant strength. "Leo!"

"If you love him, let him go." Kellan laughed in a menacing fashion.

Chris started humming a melody and I just glanced over at him. However, the "joker-like" laughter brought my attention back to what was going on and my anger boiled; I attacked. The soldiers were dropping like flies as I made my way closer to Bishop and Kellan. I went to attack them with the same tactic as the others, but it didn't seem to faze them. So, I stopped and glared at them as the soldiers who dodged my fury grabbed me again. It was silent for about ten seconds before Kellan started that crazed laughing again. The look of shock covered my face as I looked around to find Leo gone.

"Well, our job here is done, for now." And with that, they were gone.

I didn't move. I don't think I even took a breath. This was my payback, huh? This is what I got for letting Bishop see me before he sent me back in time. Dammit! I went to my knees and punched the ground. Dammit!

"Donnie!?" Aurora shouted.

"He's not here?" I asked looking around, but Mikey and Raph were already on the job.

Raph was practically throwing things and Mikey was just calling out. The kids were huddled together watching the scene play out. Layla went over to comfort them as Sam tried to tame Raph's rage. Emi walked in slowly as she, too, started to search.

Raph growled and stormed up to Emi, shoving her to the ground.

"Ya happy, kid?" He shouted as Mikey and Yoshi tried to hold him back.

I rushed in front of Emi as she shouted back. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb wit me! You come 'ere and 'ours lata dose guys show up ta da lair attackin' us!"

"Raph, knock it off." I snapped.

"She had nothing to do with this." Yasuo added. "Emi tapped into that Kellan guy's head and found out his plan to destroy the world and she didn't want to go along with the plan. So when we were captured she talked Bishop to allow her to break us out because Bishop is trying to earn Kellan's trust to stop him."

"What?" I spun towards Yasuo, who was now crouched next to Emi helping her stand up.

He sighed. "Kellan's got a big plan and he's harassing Bishop into helping. Bishop is hiding most of his resources, but Kellan is finding a lot of them."

"Does that include the time machine?" Chris asked.

Yasuo nodded. "Bishop had Stockman create it under the orders of Kellan. Kellan wanted to go far enough in time to have complete control over Bishop. When they sent mom back, it was just a test to see if it would work."

There was a quiet gasp from McKenna. "So, wait what is going on here?"

"You read my fanfiction, right?" I asked her.

"yeah, the one where...oh!" She looked around and her eyes landed on Sam. "So you're Sam?"

Sam nodded.

"Can that wait for a minute?!" Kiyomi shouted. "We are missing people!"

"Kiyo's right, guys. We need a plan." Yasuo nodded.

"What about the kids? We can't be dragging them around on this mission." Layla pointed out.

"April and Vern can help my parents keep an eye on them. We'll have them stay in that hideout by their house." I answered.

Raph tore out of Mikey and Yoshi's grip. "We can't wit one a dem wit us!" His finger pointed at Emi.

"Raphael!" Splinter shouted. "Enough."

We watched as Splinter strode forward, his walking stick tapping on the ground. Everyone was quiet and I saw McKenna trying to keep herself from freaking out.

"Raphael, it will be wise if you would be silent and listen." Splinter didn't even look at Raph as he walked past him. "It has been 6 months since Emi has been found-"

"Splinter, we just found-"

"-by me." Splinter interrupted Layla. "When I discovered her location, I made contact with her in the spiritual realm. I spoke with her and told her I would train her in the art of ninjitsu just as her family did. She told me the safest and easiest way of getting into the building and I would train her. She was learning rather quickly and she was realizing that Bishop has been lying to her. I let her slip into my mind when I am here. It gave her the proof she needed that you all were here, looking for her." Emi stood away from everyone, her eyes lowered to the ground.

Raph grunted and stormed out of the lair. Splinter let out a soft sigh. I glanced over to Emi again where Yasuo and Kiyomi were moving up to her as Yoshi went to the kids.

"I think it would be wise if everyone retired for the evening." Splinter stated as he returned to his room.

We all started our nightly routines and crawled into our beds. The kids were reluctant to go to bed, but with some persuading they cooperated. Raph didn't get home when we were all got in bed, which added to my worry. Chris and TJ were in Yasuo's room and Kenna was in my room. Kenna was already sleeping and I just looked up at the ceiling. I lost him again…

My hands slid down my face as my emotions bubbled up. I can't cry, no more crying. Turning to my side, I forced my eyes to close and get myself to fall asleep. However, when I would start to doze off, I'd reach for Leo, and find him missing. I was actually sleeping on his side of the bed. After the tenth time I've done that, I got out of bed and went into the kitchen. I still had my bracelet on, but since Mckenna was sleeping, I turned it off. Without looking at the clock, I started up a kettle of tea. It was just instinct. If I was the first up and the tea and coffee wasn't started, I'd start it. When I went for the coffee though, I stopped. It was one in the morning. I stopped in my tracks and sat at the table with my head in my hands. How was I going to get him back?

"You know, you didn't have to keep your bracelet activated." McKenna snuck up on me.

I just glanced over my shoulder before turning back to the table. She say across from me and set her hands on mine. My hands closed into fists and I kept my mouth shut. I heard more footsteps and kept my eyes on the table.

"We'll get him back." Chris's voice came from the kitchen doorway.

"Yeah." TJ added.

I nodded numbly as the three of them sat around me.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Who likes scavenger hunts?**

Chapter 17

Early the next morning, we got the kids packed up to head to my parents' home. We needed to get started finding Leo and the ingredients for the antidote. Many fits were thrown as we tried to explain to them that they had to stay here until we got back, but the one who threw the biggest one was Hope. She felt left out because her siblings were able to go and she was just overall upset that Leo was missing. Having been missing previously, most likely, isn't helping the situation either. Hope even went to the point of the puppy-eyes and crying. With some more tireless persuasion, she finally gave in. We started to leave and Raph started to run his mouth about how Emi should be thrown out and interrogated, and he doesn't mean in the 'asking questions' way. Luckily, Sam got over her shyness a bit and snapped at Raph. Her green eyes blazing as she glared at her hotheaded husband. This just led him pouting and sulking for the rest of the time we were preparing for what was ahead.

We all gathered around Donnie in the lab, examining possible locations where Leo or the ingredients could be, but the question that burned in the back of our minds was where do we go first? Do we postpone this mission and save Leo, but risk Kellan getting his hands on what we need? Or do we make Leo wait and create the antidote? The problem with the latter is the process could take a year maybe two, then extra time trying to track him down. However, if we don't get started on the anecdote then saving Leo may become a problem if I can't hold myself together.

Mikey's suggestion was to just go for Leo and beat Bishop and Kellan, but that was shot down when Donnie reminded him that we have no idea where Leo is or how the place is being guarded. Therefore, leading to the issue of us being captured. Aurora agreed with the two, but then my condition put us on hold again. There's no positives in these plans.

"Guys, I found something." Yoshi said holding up an envelope.

I took the envelope, opened it, and read it out loud.

"'Let's play a game. It is going to be the scavenger hunt of your lives. Each destination will test a skill in each one of you. You will not all go to the same place. If you disagree to this challenge, then the blue masked turtle, Leonardo, dies. There are envelopes around your home, they have your names on them. Open them, study them, and most importantly, have fun. Remember to follow the simple instructions on your envelope. I hope to see you soon.' It's signed at the bottom with a 'K'." I said.

"Kellan." Raph growled.

"So, we're just going to do what he says?" Kiyomi asked, obviously irritated with the predicament.

"What else can we do?" Ya-ya crossed his arms. "They have dad."

"And Donnie." Emi added.

Raph scoffed and walked away. Sam was on his tail, grabbing his arm to stop his stomping. He did stop, but all of us could feel the tension in the room, this was not a good situation. As they started to argue, I tried to block them out and think of what to do. We can't keep arguing like this because it's not going to solve anything.

"Everyone stop." Yasuo said in a loud, stern voice. Everyone quieted and looked at Yasuo. "We need to do what the letter says. If we split up, we can most likely hit the locations where the antidote's ingredients are, and save dad and Uncle Donnie. However, if we keep fighting each other like this then we might as well join forces with Kellan."

We were all silent, staring at Yasuo. He was right. Obviously, this bickering isn't going to help and we don't know how much time Leo and Donnie have. Instantly, I started looking around. We needed to find our envelopes and get this stupid game finished. One thought, though, kept coming into my mind, why threaten us, steal from us, then right after, give us a chance to take what was taken back? It makes no sense. Minutes later, we found our envelopes, which happened to be in our rooms. Together we gathered and sat around in the living room to open our missions.

When I looked at the paper, it was in the same writing as the first letter Yoshi found. Who knew that someone's handwriting could piss you off as much as the person's presence? I held back my disgust to read the swift cursive.

'Hear is your mission...Go to the Athens of the South and search for the aincrad of town. There, a test is waiting, complete the test within 36 hours of arrival and your next mission will be told. Do not tell anyone what your mission is. Leave immediately after reading this. Remember, if you tell your family, they will be dead before you even have the chance to save them. A car will be in the alley way closest to the exit of your home. In the car, a GPS will direct you on where to go. You will not have any stops on the trip. You may bring your weapons.'

I folded the paper and stood. Looking up at everyone, I bit into my cheek to keep from talking to them even as Yoshi stared at me with worried eyes. With much effort, I dragged myself away with my kama in my belt and my bracelet turned on. The tunnels were quiet as I quickly walked through them and up the ladder to the waiting car. I had to admit, the car was nice. A large black Chevy Silverado was parked in the alley just as the letter said. After I took a quick moment to look at the truck, I climbed in. A GPS was mounted on the dash and a box of snacks and water was in the passenger seat. At least Kellan gave me some food. Suddenly, the GPS started beeping.

' _Please enter city and state.'_

What? I looked at the GPS. This thing was supposed to tell me where to go. I looked back at the letter and found the part where it told me to go to the 'Athens of the South'. What was this? I started entering a bunch of different cities in the south.

Atlanta, Georgia...wrong.

Tampa, Florida...wrong.

Nashville, Tennessee…

' _Thank you. Take a right at the light…'_

I smiled at myself. Okay, let's do this. Putting the seatbelt on, I started the engine and pulled out of the alley.

(Yoshi POV)

''Hear is your mission...Go to the heart of the heartland and search for your past. There, a test is waiting, complete the test within 36 hours of arrival and your next mission will be told. Do not tell anyone what your mission is. Leave immediately after reading this. Remember, if you tell your family, they will be dead before you even have the chance to save them. A car will be in the alley way two blocks to the right of the exit of your home. In the car, a GPS will direct you on where to go. You will not have any stops on the trip. You may bring your weapons.'

Mom was already leaving the lair when I glanced up at everyone. My guess is she had the same threat. Following her lead, I grabbed my Kama and headed for the specified destination. Wait, is Kellan having me drive? That would be stupid because I don't know how to drive and I would most likely be pulled over, therefore, giving away his scheme. Silently, I walked through the sewers and climbed up to the surface. Just as the letter stated there was a vehicle in the alley. The car was small, a Saturn, actually. It was silver and looked old, but it appeared to be taken well cared for. The windows were tinted so I couldn't tell if anyone was inside. Slowly, I walked around to the other side and pulled on the handle of the door. To my surprise, the door opened and I got in the car. I'm glad I was in my human form because this car was small! Lucky for me, I'm not a fan of closed in spaces.

"Are you ready to go?" A man's voice made me jump in my skin.

To my left was an older man with salt and pepper hair neatly combed down to his head. It was strange the face he was making, he didn't smile, but he also wasn't frowning. I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. He turned to face forward again and started to speak.

"The place where I am bringing you, you will meet two other people. Do not speak to them." He took something out of the side of his door and placed it in my hands. It looked like some sort of mind hacker. "You will place this on the side of your head, on your temple, and meet with the two other people. There more instructions will be given. If you finish the challenge there, you're next mission will be told."

My fist went around the mind control bud. I can't let him do this, whatever he's doing. "How far away is this place?"

"You'll see."

(Sam POV)

Everyone bolted from the lair like a scurrying rat. Sorry, Splinter. I read my note, but I didn't scurry away like the others. Instead, I calmly went to where I needed to go which was on a plane to Japan. This Kellan guy was giving us everything that we needed, or he was giving me what I need. A car drove me to a private airport, there was a suitcase of supplies in the trunk, and the plane was going to the exact place I needed to arrive at. This was almost too easy.

As I climbed the stairs of the plane and took a seat inside. I buckled my seatbelt and looked out the small window to my right.

"Mrs. Hamato," A man in a suit gained my attention, "we will arrive in approximately fourteen hours. If there is anything I could get for you, please let me know. Enjoy your flight." He held my gaze which I struggled to keep before walking away.

I watched the man leave as I thought over his offer. Hmm, this was not good. This guy is being too nice. Grabbing for the tips of my hair, I brushed it to the side. I wish Raph was here. He tells me I'm getting better at being more assertive, but that's because he's there. He's my strength…

(Kiyomi POV)

"Where are we going?" I spat out questions at the driver to my right. My anger was at its boiling point as this stupid game went on. "Are you listening to me?"

I was heading to somewhere in the city according to the creepy stalker letter everyone got. My fists clenched as I thought of everyone being separate. What was the point of this? Separate us makes sense, but there was freaking snacks on the ground in front of me and water! If I was a super villain, there would be no necessities like this! Something is up, and I wanted answers! I glared at the man again.

"Staring and shouting will not get you what you want." He finally spoke.

I crossed my arms and sighed angrily. "Will you please tell me where you are taking me?"

"We are going to the junkyard." He answered.

"Why?" I asked.

He didn't respond, let alone react.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: No like blood, no read. Sorry friends...**

Chapter 18

' _When you enter the building, do not speak to the others with you. You will sit in the chair and put on the VR mask.'_

I played the directions in my head over and over as I jumped out of the truck. The drive here was horrible. Now I remember why I hated driving so much...people are idiots! Seriously, it was like no one followed the law anymore. After moping into the building, I came face to face with Yasuo and Chris. They were already in the VR masks sitting in chairs. My stomach knotted. What were they going to do? Taking a deep breath, I sat in the chair and put the mask on. Here goes nothing. My eyes shut as the mask whirled to life.

When the scene unfolded, I freaked. I stared at a bright light and my skin prickled as I noticed that I was tied down to a chair. My eyes raced around, looking for how I got in this predicament. The room was so big that I couldn't find the walls. For a few moments my heart was in my throat, but I've been in situations like this. Way too many times, I've been treated like this that it was almost normal for me.

"Mom!" Yasuo's voice rang in the large room.

"Yasuo?" My brows pressed together as the sounds of footsteps echoed. Slowly, they got closer and closer revealing the sounds of bodies being dragged. I jumped as Yasuo, Leo, and Chris were thrown to the ground. They were barely alive. My breath caught in my throat as I took in the sight. So much blood…

"Doesn't this look familiar?" Bishop appeared out of the shadows.

Through gritted teeth, I answered. "It's not the same."

He chuckled. "You're right, it's not. This time they will die, and you get to watch."

I pounced from the chair to Bishop, but was caught from behind by Bishop's goonies.

"Let me go!" I shouted. There has to be a way I could save them.

"Dear, it would be in yours and their benefit if you would stop struggling." Bishop sighed.

"No!" I shouted, pulling at the bodies behind me. "I'll never stop fighting!"

"You're choice."

I gasped as I felt a knife, or sword, go through my back. My body refused to fight and I collapsed to the ground as pain seized my body. My hands clawed at the ground, trying to pull myself towards Leo, Chris, and Yasuo. Their screams started as Bishop attacked each one of them brutally. I don't know if I was going crazy, but I heard the others too. Their cries of agony filled my ears, making them feel like they were bleeding.

"Stop!" I screamed and everything went silent.

The scene in front of me was slightly different. I was alone this time, except for the woman in a suit in front of me pacing. I put my blank face on as her heels clicked. There was a spotlight on me which made it difficult to see. The farthest I could see was about two feet.

"Where are they?" She asked.

What? I didn't answer, not out of stubbornness, but out of confusion. I couldn't make out the features of her face, but her dark pinned up hair was neat.

"Answer me!" She shouted slamming her hands on my wrists.

I tried not to squirm as pain jolted in my arms, but I did keep quiet. She glared at me for a moment before disappearing into the darkness around where I sat. She returned with a large knife. I bit into my cheek.

"I'll ask you one more time, where is my daughter?" She waved the knife in front of my face.

How was I supposed to know who her daughter is? The women lift the knife and dug it into my thigh. I screamed and squirmed.

"Where is she?" She yelled at me as she continued to stab my leg and sobbed. "Give her back you monster!"

My fists clenched and the woman froze. Gasping, I met the woman's eyes to see that she couldn't move even as she struggled. I started to tremble as I watched to woman twist and turn in unnatural ways before collapsing to the ground.

"See what happens when you lose control?" Phil walked into the light.

"Phil? You're...you're supposed to be dead." It wasn't possible!

"Are you sure about that?" He smirked and sulked closer to me.

I screamed.

(Yasuo POV)

Mom and I were running on the rooftops. The air was crisp and the sky was clear, nothing could ruin the moment. I laughed as we soared over another building, but when I landed on the next building, it wasn't the building. Bishop stood over me like a ghost. I glared at him as he smiled. Now I understood why mom tried to hit him so much, that smug smile pissed me off too.

"No!" Mom's screams echoed into the room I was standing in.

"Mom!" I ran past Bishop to find, well, me, Chris, and dad lying on the ground bleeding out. Mom was on her stomach with a sword in her back, her hand outstretched towards me, Chris, and dad. Tears streaked her face as her breaths came quick. I rushed over to her to try and help, but when I went to grab the sword it went through my hands. "No, no…"

I tried grabbing for her, but again my hands went right through. I tried with dad and Chris, getting the same results. My body shook with aggravation as all of my attempts turned up into failure. I felt ashamed, though, as a tear rolled down my cheek as mom stopped breathing followed by dad and mom's friend.

"You could've saved them." Bishop said in my ear. "It's your fault they are dead."

"It's my fault…" I nodded. "They're gone because of me."

After a few moments, I rose to my feet. Honestly, I had no idea I was on my knees. Once on my feet, I turned to Bishop. I didn't do this, this was Bishop's doing! I shouted and attacked him, beating him to an unidentifiable pulp, that was my plan. My fists flew in a blur of green as they made contact with his face every time. However, the more I attacked the more he changed. Instead of black and blue marks, he was turning green...I froze as the now green form collapsed.

"Yasuo?" Dad's voice was weak as he reached for me.

"Dad!" I went to my knees and took his hand. "I didn't mean it, I thought it was Bishop!" I rambled but he pulled his hand away.

"You disgraced me. You failed."

(Alexa POV)

My eyes snapped open as the mask was taken off of me and Chris was shaking me. Grabbing his arms, by instinct, my eyes darted around looking for Leo or the kids. I scrambled off the chair to find Yasuo sitting in a chair with his head in his hands. What did they do to him? Was he hurt? I rushed up to him and placed my hands over his. Slowly, his blue/brown eyes met mine. They had tints of red in them, showing that he was crying. My lip quivered as my emotions swirled and I pulled him into my arms, sobbing. He was okay! I held onto him for a long time, until Chris came over to us.

"Uh, I think we have company." He pointed at the door I walked in from.

I pulled my Kama out and stood in front of Chris. "Good, 'cause Bishop really pissed me off."

Yasuo's hand went to my arm. "Mom, wait."

"No!" I snapped. "They hurt you, everyone, it's time for payback."

Before anyone could stop me, I bolted into the group of soldiers with a battle cry. My attacks were backed with a boost of rage as one by one they fell. My blades slicing through flesh without much regret or hesitation. Soon, however, my adrenaline started to drop as the crowd dwindled and when the last did fall, I wasn't done. Dropping one Kama, I gripped the other with two hands. I straddled the closest soldier and started hitting the still form with my kama like it was a hammer. Grief blinded me, I knew that, as I couldn't get myself to stop. Over and over my assault continued until I saw a ring on the hand of the corpse. I froze and scrambled backwards. He has a family...

I shook my head and looked at what I did. The man's face was unidentifiable. His whole facial cavity was crumbled in on itself and his eye was hanging out of its smashed eye socket. I gasped and trembled. As I stared, until I had to turn away to spill the contents of my stomach onto the floor. Someone was holding my hair back and rubbing my back.

"What did I do?" I cried. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it! I didn't know he had a family waiting for him. I-I was angry and…." I shoved my hands to my face, wiping the blood that was most likely on my face.

Then my eyes opened and I was back in the chair again. This time I stayed where I was and saw that I was alone. Carefully, I pulled the mask off and placed it back on the small table next to the chair. On the table there was a note. My hands quaked as I lifted the paper to my face.

'If you are reading this, you passed your first test. Your reward will be in the other room. After you collect your prize, please return to the truck. Further instructions will be given.

~K'

I tossed the note to the ground, grabbed a key and rushed back to the truck which already had a destination set. Shifting the truck into gear, I stomped on the gas pedal and raced out.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: This chapter is a wee bit dark (self harm)...enjoy!**

Chapter 19

(Sam POV)

After about a twelve hour flight and a three hour search for the car, I finally found the car and got in. The drive was annoying, but I finally closed some distance between me and the little green flag on the GPS. When I pulled up to where the GSP told me to go, I felt cold. My eyes took in the apartment complex as I shut the door of the black Camaro. This is where it all started, I thought to myself as the wind blew my hair in my face. How was it here? Biting my fear, I stepped into the complex and my breath caught in my throat. I was so scared, but nothing could happen. He's been dead since I was taken.

As I entered the house, a man who looked like a butler motioned me forward. I followed the mysterious butler and was led to my room. The butler swung his hand to the side, towards, my room. Following his orders, I entered and the door slammed behind me. I bit into my cheek to keep from jumping at the loud bang then the sound of the door locking. Quickly, I slammed my fists into the door trying to grab someone's attention, but no one answered. My chest heaved as I pressed my back against the door. I had to get out of here.

"I see you're back for more."

A belt snapped and my eyes connected with my father's cold black eyes. I did a clumsy scramble slash crabwalk back into the door.

"You're-you're dead!" I sputtered out.

"You wish, girl." My father laughed. "You miss getting slapped around a bit? Like the sting it leaves? You were always a sick girl."

He made a 'tsk' sound and he approached me. My arms went over my head as I crouched over, trying to protect myself from the upcoming attacks.

"Raphael!" I shouted as the belt whistled through the air.

(Mikey POV)

None of my bros or I have been to Japan, but Father spoke about it a lot. Before he was assigned to Project Renaissance, aka the project that made me into this awesome, butt-kicking mutant turtle, he lived in Japan. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I wasn't going to argue. There was a credit card in the car I was driving in, and there was plenty of food to eat. Even though the sights, and most importantly, the taste of Japan was beyond amazing, I had a mission. Geez, I sound like Leo. Speaking of Leo, I hope him and Donnie were okay. What if this Kellan guy was as bad of news as he claims he is? I dragged my feet along the sidewalk as I finished my chips I got at the airport.

After walking down a bunch of blocks, I pulled out the map on my shell cell. Where to now? I looked up at the blinking balloon. Giggling at the balloon, I thought of the video game I was playing back home. I was two more levels away from beating the final boss! It was a complete joke! You'd run into a dude who insta-kills you, you respawn, and BANG dead again by the same dude! Talk about an unbeatable game. Suddenly, my phone started to bug out. I tapped on the screen a bunch of times, irritated at it's current state. The screen cut in and out, making a buzzing noise. Come on! Donnie just looked at it last week! Then I start to notice, it got worse as I walked. Hmm...I turned the opposite way, and my phone went back to normal. Hey! Genius Mikey! I gave myself a pat on the back. I headed back to where the balloon was and my phone returned to its buggy state. Wait, didn't Donnie put something in our phones for some reason…

 _Donnie handed me my newly replaced phone as he rambled about something he put in it. He damn sure better hope it's a new game. My arm swung forward to grab my prize, Donnie pulled it out of my reach._

" _Donnie! Give it here!" I shouted. "Give it, give it, give it!"_

" _Mikey, I'm being serious." Don whined. "If you get into an area where there is a suspected time portal, the shell cell will lock and the screen will look all staticy. If that happens leave and send me the coordinates. Got it?"_

" _Yeah, yeah, I got it. Now hand over the shell cell, Brainy Shell." I tore the phone out of his hand and booked it._

"Oh no…" I turned and ran.

"Oof." Came from the person I ran into.

I caught them and rambled out. "I'm sorry!"

"Uncle Mikey? Is that you?" It was Emi. Still it was weird to hear her calling me uncle.

"Emi, what are you-"

"I got a letter too. It had a plane ticket and everything." She waved her ticket and a GPS.

"Let me see that." I took the GPS. It was set to where I was heading. The balloons were in the same spot… "Whoa…"

"What?" Emi practically shouted.

"Donnie put this time portal tracker in our phones."

"What for?"

"Well, uh...your mom got into a little pickle with Bishop. He sent her back in time." I quickly gave her a short explanation.

"So what do we do?" Her eyes skittered around. "We find who else is going to be zapped in time?"

I looked at Emi. "Looks like it."

(Sam POV)

Sweat beaded down my forehead as I ran around my large room. There was no way to escape, and despite the size, nowhere was far enough away. He was gaining on me, his hysteric laughter and snapping sound of the belt confirmed that. One thought that kept sneaking into my mind was, how was he here? I asked myself as I clumsily ran into my dresser. The dresser was now on its side and I stopped. My chest was heaving as I stared at my father. I shook my head. He wasn't real. I straightened my cowering shoulders, and took a breath.

"You're not real!" I shouted causing my voice to crack.

He lunged at me again, but this time I didn't move. My eyes closed as I waited for the impact, but instead, I heard a door shut. I opened my eyes and saw myself. Dark eyes, frizzy hair, and a permanent frown on a young thin girl. I didn't even recognize myself. Then my body started to move on its own. A sharp knife glistened in the bathroom light as it went towards my wrist. There was no stopping it, so I let it happen. My eyes closed as the burning sensation of the blade gliding over my skin sent me into total bliss. I could stay here forever...

"Sam!"

I jumped when I heard the voice, dropping the knife in the process. I was expecting it to clatter on the ground, but it didn't. Speaking of, my weren't injured either. Taking a minute to collect myself, I looked around and found a note and a small vile on the ground. It was over. I sighed, and picked up the note and vile. Who called me?

"Sam!" There was the voice again, I didn't recognize it.

Great, now I was going crazy. I walked towards the front door and left. This time when I heard my name, I knew who it was.

"Mikey?" I quickly walked towards him and the short girl next to him.

"Hey, Sam, you need to stay away from that building." He grabbed me by the arm and led me and the girl away.

"Yeah, it sends you in time and, most likely, gives you hallucinations." The girl was Emi, Alexa's long-lost daughter.

It wasn't real. I bit my lip to hold back my cries of hysteria. Emi and Mikey stopped and Emi embraced me.

"I wish I could've found you sooner. I could've kept you from seeing that."

I looked back at my apartment, but I then realized a. It wasn't my house, and b. I was in Japan.

"We have to find the others." Emi told me.

I barely was able to nod as she dragged me along with Mikey leading us away.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

(Kiyomi POV)

The taxi I was in didn't take me far, only a few blocks south from the Lair. I got out when the driver stopped and found myself at the city dump. Cautiously, I walked in. Why would the pea brain send me here? I just kept walking and kept my eyes open. He had to have his goons hiding here, it would just make sense. Seclude the smallest member and take them out in a surprise attack. Out of my siblings, I was the smallest one, even Emi was slightly taller than me and fuller too. I frowned, now is not the time to dwell on silly things like appearance.

My stroll was put to an end when Kellan stood in front of me. I held my katanas in my hands and growled. Kellan simply stood there, just smiling. I was about to shout out at him when more people showed up. Guess I was right. Silently, I attacked. Blades slicing through the air in a fluid movement. All those hours of practice to master the precision. I felt closer to my dad when I practiced. To me, I was too much of a hot-head to compete with Yasuo always out-shinning me and Yoshi. It wasn't long that dad noticed my hard work. I'm not saying we don't talk or get along, we do, it's just I feel distant.

"Come on, Firecracker, show us the flame." One bozo taunted.

"Talk slower, I don't think the mutant understood." Another added.

They wore Foot uniforms so their faces were concealed.

"I'm surprise it moves so fast."

"It should end it's pitiful life."

"Why it is alive?"

The taunts just got worse and worse the longer I stayed quiet. "Shut up!"

"Oh, oh, looks like I hit a nerve." One laughed.

"I said stop!" I shouted and fire extended from my blades.

Still attacking my foes, I took them down. Burnt flesh filled my nose and a tear fell from my cheek. Swatting away the inconvenience, I looked up to meet Kellan's eyes, but they were my mom's. Her face was full of shock and fear.

"Mom?" I stepped towards her and she tensed.

"Get away! Get away you monster!" She screamed bloody murder.

I stepped back. "I'm sorry."

(Raph POV)

Stupid search, stupid girl, fucking stupid situation. I entered the junkyard and sat on an upturned bucket. The point of this stupid search is probably something that isn't important, and we're wasting time. Leo and Donnie were out there, probably with Bishop! This was a way to stall us. Now with that kid waltzing in with her sob story, everyone has all eyes on her. There was no way that she could be raised with Bishop and not want to kill us. The kid is brainwashed and this is all an act. Just wait, she'll snap and so will our necks. I'm not going to stand by and let that happen.

I stood from the pail and started pacing. There was nothing here. The trash piles only had trash in them, and nothing important. You'd think they would send me here to be attacked and my prize would be my life, but a note floated on by me. I looked around for anyone who could've dropped it, and found no one, so I picked up the note.

"'Who will you save?'"

What? A phone was in the envelope, I turned it on. The screen lit up and there were two files one named Leonardo and the other Donatello. My jaw clenched when I opened Leo's first. He was strapped down to a table as his body seized, the sounds of electrical currents buzzed through the speakers. His whimpers and groans were quiet, but his breathing was choppy and fast.

'R-raph!' His voice was hoarse and quiet.

The clip ended.

I felt my anger bubble as I opened Donnie's. He was hanging by his wrists above a large tank. His wrists were bleeding and his green pants were wet. Machines whirled as his body lowered into the water, which I noticed was boiling. Donnie screamed as he was held in the water, his head just above the scalding water. When he was finally pulled out, his skin blistered and his body was limp. The video ended.

I chucked the phone and shouted. "Leave them the fuck alone!"

No one answered and I looked at the note again. There were two addresses. No labels on who was where and the amount of time I had to choose, which of my brothers would die.

My fist hit the ground hard as I shouted. I couldn't choose between them! I know Leo would want me to save Donnie, but what about Alexa and the triplets. Then there's Donnie, Ellie wouldn't grow up with a father. She'd have to be satisfied with stories about him. No, I can't choose. I'm going to save them both. I straightened myself and started running towards the closest location. I will save them both.

(Kiyomi POV)

I ran out of the building with my reward in my arms. It was a map with coordinates of where to find dad! Clutching the map close to me, I did what the letter that was with the map told me to do. "Go home." My lungs were starting to burn as my hysteric gasps and desperate running brought me closer to home. What if I could really find dad? I'll be able to save him and then we'll be able to save Uncle Donnie! Ignoring all of the grumpy New York faces, I darted into an alley and jumped into the manhole. My feet made a light thud sound as I landed. Again, I started running. As I neared the lair, I turned my bracelet off.

"Hello?" I called out into the empty lair.

I looked around for a note or hint, but the lair was empty. Shaking my head, I went through everything again. Nothing was here! I did everything I was supposed to do! My fist collided with something, but I was blindly hitting things at this point. Shouting in a fit of rage, I didn't notice that someone walked into the lair.

"Kiyomi, stop!"

"Uncle Raph?" I stopped and turned towards my red masked uncle.

"What ya got in yer hands?" He asked pointing at the envelop I clutched.

"Coordinates to where dad is, but it told me to go home. I'm here but there aren't any more instructions." I explained.

Uncle Raph grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the lair. I had to pick up my pace to a jog to keep up with him.

"We're gettin' yer dad 'n uncle back."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Another chapter with Ciel0307! Be sure to check out Ciel0307's stuff. Hope you enjoy this chapter. : )**

Chapter 21

(Alexa POV)

I smashed my fist into the steering wheel. Bishop was screwing with my mind again, and it was working! No, I wouldn't let him. Not again! I shook my head as that goddamn emotional knot stalked its way up into my throat. First tightening in my stomach then stretching throughout my entire body, that feeling of claustrophobia kicked in. Those betraying streams rolled down my cheeks as I sped away from that building. There, I faced my fears. It was thrown in my face like a water balloon. I couldn't do this, I couldn't-

"Fuck…" I gasped as I swung the truck to the side of the road. When I kicked my door open, a car missed it by inches. That didn't bother me. I fell to my knees on the side of the road, rocking in my state of emotional collapse. "It's just the side effects. I can fight this."

My mind wandered through thoughts that would help me calm down, birthdays, TMNT movie premieres, family, anything positive to get a grip on myself. I couldn't focus! Everything was becoming a swirl of unidentifiable panic.

' _You have one minute to return to the vehicle'_

I whimpered. "I can't get back in there."

' _One objective incomplete. One life taken.'_

That phrase sent a cold feeling through my body. ' _One life taken'._ I don't know how I was doing it, but I found my way to my feet. There was no way that I was going to let anyone get hurt. Being able to breath or not, I was not going to let anyone die! I forced the attack back and climbed back into the truck and sped off. My heart was racing and I tried to get ahead of Bishop's plan. What did he want? What was he planning?

' _Turn left in the next 2 miles. There you will set up camp and wait.'_

I hit the radio with a shout. "Shut up!"

Pressing my foot further on the pedal, the truck's engine roared. It wasn't long before I was in the middle of nowhere. After calming myself down, I set up a small camp with the supplies that was left in the bed of the truck. After the sleeping bags were set up, I grabbed a bundle of branches and got ready to get a fire going. Once that was ready, I grabbed one of the sleeping bag and laid on top of it. I tried to get my eyes to shut, but my nerves were in a bundle. Donnie really needs to make this antidote. I don't know how much longer I can push off these side effects. Staying on my side, I ran my hand over the grass around me, just something to do while I waited for further instructions. What else was there that I could do?

"Mom!" Kiyomi shouted and I scrambled to my feet to embrace her.

"Kiyomi! Where are the others? Are you by yourself?" I rambled.

"I don't know, but Uncle Raph is with me." She said as she pointed behind her as Raph jogged up.

"What ya doing 'ere?" Raph asked me.

I shrugged. "When you find out, let me know."

Raph crossed his arms and walked around. "We were sent 'ere ta rescue Leo or Donnie, but it was a side trip ta da middle of nowhere!"

I frowned. "We'll figure this out."

"Ya two get some sleep." Raph ordered as Kiyo and I pulled two bags together and laid down.I stroked her hair as she settled down.

"You think the others will show up?" I could hear the annoyance in her voice.

"I think so." I answered.

She sighed and closed her eyes, she was asleep moments later. I'm glad she could do that. My eyes went to the stars and I made shapes with the crystal speckles until the others did, indeed, show up. I didn't get up and greet them though. I don't want to hear all of their questions. When I was younger, I was the master at pretending I was sleeping. So, I put my old skills to the test as the others surrounded around the firepit, which was now ignited. The muffled voices told me that they were all talking about their experiences. I found the crackling flames and hushed voices soothing, that soon I was sleeping too.

 _My eyes opened to my house's yard, the air was crisp as I walked barefoot. My arms were crossed as I stumbled across the yard. Really I had no idea where I was going, but I kept going where I was until I entered the wooded area around my home. Chris walked out of the woods. I jumped and he flashed me that goofy smile, I always looked forward to seeing everyday. A smile pulled at my lips as I slowly approached him, but suddenly he frowned. His brows pulled together._

" _You left." He said as he backed up._

 _I shook my head. "No, I didn't want to. I didn't."_

" _Don't lie!" He yelled, making me jump._

" _No, Chris, please." I begged._

" _I can't believe you." He backed up as someone grabbed him into the woods._

 _I chased towards the direction he was grabbed and found him in the woods unconscious. As I ran towards him, he disappeared! Spinning around, I looking around calling out his name but he didn't answer. Why does everyone leave me?_

"Get her up!" I heard someone yell as I shot up off the ground, pulling my knees to my chest. I felt myself being pulled to my feet and I pulled away.

"Are you okay?" Aurora asked.

I nodded stiffly. Walking away from the group that formed around me, I tried to push the feeling away. I was fine. The dream though was true. With Chris. Though we didn't really get to talk when he arrived. I shouldn't ignore him, but that's what I did. It's been so long since I've spoken to him. Now he's being pulled into this shit hole...because of me...I started to move towards the woods, but I was stopped. I struggled to keep myself from being dragged into another panic attack. It took over, but this time I could keep myself from screaming. Instead, I just stared. I felt as if my whole body was shaking as shallow breaths came from me. Keep it together. Keep. It. Together. One breath after the other. Okay, now go back to the others. Slowly, my steps started to go where I wanted. I stopped as a thought came to mind. If I go back, I'll have to sit and listen to everyone ask if I was alright, that we'd find the others, and that everything was going to go back to normal. How can they? I pushed the questions aside and left. As I turned around to head back towards camp, I ran into Chris.

I'm surprised he was able to sneak up on me with the training the guys have given me.

"Hey." I tried to play it off that I was fine. "What are you doing away from the group?"

"Coming to find you obviously, I mean you just ran off after one of your panic attacks back there."

"Yeah, I guess you need some catching up, huh?"

"You think? I thought I've been doing pretty good till now."

"Considering what's been happening, yeah you are. So where do you want to start?"

"How about the beginning?"

I sighed and walked away from the crowded campsite. "How long do you want to stand out here?"

"As long as it takes till i get some answers," a slight frown appears on his face.

"Before I start telling everything, I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave everything and everyone that I knew and cared about. Just know that. If you felt as if I abandoned you, I'm sorry." If that dream, or nightmare, was true then I want to make sure he knows.

"See, now that's where I get lost," he starts pacing, waving his finger about, "because you even said that back then. And then I was naive enough to believe you. But apparently you did want to go, because you, well, did. And on top of it you stayed. And now you have a family of your own here, and I'm stuck by myself in a trashy apartment. With a douchey college student for a roommate!"

I just stared at him for a moment. How could I fix this? "Chris, I didn't leave. I was forcefully taken from my home, held captive by a crazy scientist, and experimented on. That family of mine was the product of those experiments. I couldn't leave here because there was no way to get back for a long time." My voice rose. "By the time I got back to my home and things settled, I didn't think that people were worried about me. I thought they moved on. So, yeah, I took what I had. I had kids to raise and lucky enough, for me, someone who wanted to be in their lives. You know as well as I do that I didn't have that, and I wasn't going to keep them from that!"

His voice lowered to a whisper as if he were on the verge of tears, "But, Alexa, I wanted to be in your life… You knew that."

A tear ran down my face. "...I know. I guess I did leave then, huh?" I shook my head. "Here I am dragging you into shit that can get you killed. How great am I?" I couldn't look him in the eyes, there would be too much hurt and betrayal in them.

"Alexa please, I've been through worse. This shits nothing. Let's not forget that while you were gone I did spend a couple years in the military."

"Well, I hope they trained you well in the subject of mind control 'cause that's what you're being pulled into. Bishop just got lucky with me. The depression shit and everything." I lowered my eyes. "He knows where to hit me too. I guess, I make it obvious." I shrug. "That's besides the point, I don't want you to have to go through that."

"Actually they did. And as for staying, it sure as hell beats the shithole I've been living in"

Damn, what did I leave him to? I'll have to ask about that another time. I shrugged as I answered. "Your choice."

"No, Alexa. It's your choice. Do you want me in your life again, or not. That's all I need to know."

"Yes, but not in the way that we were," My heart broke, "but Chris, I can't do this by myself." I put my hand on his arm. "We're getting picked up one by one, and I have no idea if we're getting anyone back. Yasuo said Bishop's changed, but I don't believe it. I can't believe." I shook my head. "If this is the Bishop I know, then Leo and Donnie aren't with us anymore. He wouldn't waste time holding them captive, again. Now we don't have anyone for the cure and this new guy is sneaking his way to our weak points." I let my hand fall. "I don't know how we're going to make it out of this one."

Just as Chris was about to answer me, everyone at camp were on their feet. Chris and I walked over, but Chris walked to the other side of the group. Fuck, I'm gonna lose him! My fists were in tight balls as I stepped towards the front of the group to see who had come here. Great...it was Bishop.

"Ya 'ave some guts showin' up 'ere, Bishop." Raph threatened.

"This is for your benefit, trust me." Bishop said calmly.

"Trust you." I scoffed, I was not in the mood for this shit. "Stop stalling, what do you want?"

Bishop put his hand up and motioned his goons who were hiding in the darkness around us. "I'm here to help. You all have the necessary materials for the antidote." His hand waved behind him. "I have someone to make it."

Donnie and Leo were escorted forward and Aurora took a step forward, but Sam held her back. I was as still as a statue as I looked at Leo. He looked right at me, but his gaze was unreadable.

"What do you want?" Yasuo demanded.

"I want to stop this madman from destroying the world." Bishop answered. "I have a lab hidden in the area, we could make the antidote, track Kellan's progress on his plan, and it'll be a safe haven. The rest of your family could stay there undetectable."

"The kids are staying where they are." Leo snapped. "Don't change the plan." His voice sounded dark.

Bishop sighed and nodded.

"Leo and I had plenty of time to interrogate him. He's not lying." Donnie told us, and Aurora raced into Donnie's arms, quietly crying.

"Yer not 'urt?" I heard Raph ask quietly. "But the videos."

"They were fake, used to get you to do what Bishop wanted." Leo answered.

Kiyomi was the first to run to Leo as the others followed, even Emi joined in on the embrace. I stayed though and watched Bishop, he still scared me. What he could do, scares me. But if Bishop is how he was then Leo and Donnie would be dead, right? My gaze went towards Leo as he started to walk towards me. His lips caught mine as he pulled me closer to him. After a moment we pulled back and Chris entered my mind. ' _Alexa, I wanted to be in your life… You knew that.'_ I closed my eyes in attempt to slow down my racing mind.

"We show get to the lab." I said, before cleaning up camp and leaving for the lab.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

We reached the lab by morning and Bishop was right, no one would find it even if they tried. The place was rigged with shields to keep unwanted eyes out. Guess what, the same kinds of shields that Yoshi could generate. Now that was just one reason, this place made me feel on edge. As we entered the compound, I could've screamed. It was the same lab we were held in 16 years ago, reason number two. I stopped as Leo took my hand.

"It'll be okay." He told me, but still I couldn't move. Leo stood in front of me and put his finger under my chin. Gently tilting my head up towards him. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

I held my breath as I forced myself to walk again. Goosebumps covered me as we walked through the halls. I remember all of this. Everything that happened here, reason number 3.

"When are we starting this?" Emi asked.

They all turned to look at me and Yasuo.

"As soon as possible." Yasuo answered, grasping my hand.

Bishop nodded. "Okay, then Donatello, Leonardo, Alexa and Yasuo can come with me. The others will be escorted by Sergeant Baker."

A tall man in uniform walked out of hiding from one of the many halls. We started to split and that's when my worry started to build up.

"Wait!" I shouted. "Can we start after the rest are sent to where they're staying?"

"They'll be fine, babe." Leo told me.

"You of all people should know why I want to make sure this isn't a gimmick." I argued, and Leo flinched. Hurt clouded his eyes as he nodded, and the final reason. Leo has moved past this, but I haven't and I feel the tension between us build the longer we stay here.

We regrouped, together again, and continued on our previous path towards our cells, uh, I mean, hope, our rooms. We were led through halls that were so white that it made your eyes burn. They were small and too well kept. Thousands of victims probably were tortured here. I tried to blink away the images of what happened here. So much I wanted to forget and so much I didn't know. While I was drowning in visions of my past, we arrived at our rooms. They each had numbers on the doors and when we went to check them out, they were equipped with a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, all the necessary needs. Leo leaned in and whispered to me.

"See nothing to worry about."

Then why couldn't I shake the feeling of being trapped.

"The first step of the antidote, we will need blood from both of you." Bishop motioned towards me and Yasuo.

"How do you plan on extracting our blood?" I snapped pulling Yasuo behind me, a sudden rage and fear fueled me. "Gut us and collect the blood in a pool!"

"Alexa, that's enough!" Leo shouted. "We're all just trying to help you."

"I've screwed up too much. I'm beyond help!" I shouted again. "I'm better off dead!"

Leo grabbed me by my arms, hard. "Do you hear yourself?" His voice rose as his hands went to my face. "This is not you! You are a fighter, and I'm not letting you give up."

"I'm broken, Leo, something's just can't be fixed." I muttered.

"No." He pulled me into an embrace. "We're going to fix you."

I broke down when I realized the weight of my words.

Leo must've known what I meant in my meltdown and held me tighter. "That's not going to happen again."

He led me away from everyone and towards the lab. At this point, I was like a zombie. This place just sent me back in time, and it scared the hell out of me. I sat in the chair, expecting someone to tie me down, but instead a doctor walked up to me with all of the supplies needed to take blood. The entire time I could feel myself shaking. I just had to close my eyes and don't think...yeah, that'll work. When I opened my eyes again, all the lights were out except for the one over a small table filled with operation tools. I tensed at the sight. My stomach felt as if there was a rock sitting at the bottom of it. I went to go and lift my arm, and it moved freely, to my surprise. However, my freedom was pulled back when I went to stand. I was forced back into the chair I sat in, but there was no one in front of me or behind me. What?

"It's getting worse."

A voice stated in its echoey style.

"What do we do? There's gotta be something we could do?" Another voice begged.

"The antidote, that's all we can do."

"But, we are nowhere close to finishing it! Leonardo, you know she's slipping away!"

Chris?

"We don't have much of a choice."

What's happening?! I clawed my way through the darkness that surrounded me. It wasn't long before my eyes opened to the argument that was being unfolded in front of me. Leo and Chris were glaring at each other, shooting arguments. Chris was beyond pissed that nothing was getting done. Leo, however, thought that what we were doing was the quickest way to get me and Yasuo better. Sure, the effects weren't as prominent as mine, but who says it hasn't started?

"Would you two knock it off." I whined.

Of course, they both stopped, but now they were grumpy as hell. So, I looked to Bishop.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Your symptoms are getting worse. They are getting you to the point of insanity." He answered my question. "Also, your trip to the past didn't help with this ordeal. Your memory and past are being recreated."

"That's why Chris, Tarik, and Kenna strolled in." I concluded.

"Yes, so I recommend talking to your friends. It'll help sort out the scrambled pieces." Bishop finished and left the room.

I looked up at Chris, but he turned and left. He was mad, I knew that, but I hope he wouldn't be like this forever. Leo stayed by my side as we walked out of the lab. He took my hand.

"I want to show you something." He told me as he led me down a series of halls.

My eyes were shut, not because it was a surprise and it needed to be a secret, because I was scared that this wasn't real. It terrified me that I could be in a cell, pregnant, dreaming that I was free.

"We're here." Leo's voice was happy. "Open your eyes."

I looked around to find myself in a field. It was so large that I couldn't see where it ended. A smile lit my face, the grass was high and the sun was bright. How was this here?

"You can come here whenever you like, without supervision. It's your getaway for when you feel trapped inside." Leo told me as his hand cradled my face.

"Thank you." I answered, looking into his eyes.

His hand dropped to mine. "I know everything is confusing right now, but I'm here."

I lowered my eyes, and nodded. "I know, thank you."

He kissed my forehead and headed for the door behind me. "I'll leave you some time to yourself."

As the door shut, I sat on the ground. What's fake? What's real? I just had to think, but I need the others. From both sides of my reality, they had the answers that would somehow set everything straight. Moving to my feet, I walked inside and tried to find my way back to the others. There was shouting up ahead as I started to run. What now? I approached an intersection where Leo and Don were in a standoff with Raph and, a nervous, Mikey. They were shouting and shoving each other.

"We need ta stop dis guy from sendin the entire world ta da past!" Raph shouted.

"We will, but we have people out of commission here. We're a family and we need to stick together." Leo said.

"But the others aren't here." Mikey added quietly.

"Then we split." Raph growled. "Besides what we need is only an hour away."

I went to the center of the group. "No one is splitting up!" I yelled. "Do we know exactly where we have to go or get in that matter?"

They shook their heads.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys, anyway? Leaving each other?" I shouted, as the nauseating sensation of deja vu hit me. "Again...?"

"Again?" Donnie asked.

"Uh, sorry, but seriously," I shook my head. "You can't give up on each other! You are brothers."

"But we're not a team." Leo said, making me flinch.

I heard him say that somewhere...the turtles were on a plane, disappointment was clear on their faces. I was in a movie theater. The camera went on each turtle, and I felt my heart ache. When Leo and Donnie were shown, I left loneliness and yearning devour my insides. Then I saw the guys in front of a group of cops with guns pointing at them. No…the cops shouted.

" _They're monsters!"_

" _Get them!"_

" _What are these freaks?"_

Then I saw Mikey's face.

" _I'm not a monster."_

Everything was quiet as I looked at the four sulking brothers. I was back at Bishop's headquarters, and the brothers were fighting. What did I just see? McKenna and Chris joined the group.

"When did the second turtles movie come out?" I asked McKenna.

"June 3, why?" She answered.

"Nothing, just my mind playing tricks on me, I guess. Did you see it?"

"Of course." She seemed slightly offended that I thought otherwise.

"Was there an airplane scene? And a scene where they are surrounded by New York City Police?"

She nodded.

So that's what happened? My past was really being recreated. Now, it makes sense. So, those feelings I felt when Donnie and Leo were on the screen was because Chris was always my Donnie, but he had his streaks of Leo in him. However, Chris was also leaving for boot camp days after...I left him...No, no, I wouldn't! Bishop took me, he took me.

"Ya see, Leo, she ain't gettin any betta." Raph motioned at me. "Ya want da same fer evr'ybody else?"

"We have all of the ingredients we need for the antidote. Just a little longer and it'll be done." Donnie argued.

"Whateva." Raph scoffed and walked down the hall. "What Leo says goes, right! Da rest o' da 'team' doesn't matta."

"Raphael, knock it off." Sam sulked up to her hot-headed husband. "Donnie told me before, it'll be done in two days at the most. In that time, we can get a better plan."

He huffed and Sam took the large turtle's hand. Raph looked down at her and the anger seemed to disappear. She smiled.

"Good, now. Bishop said there was an entertainment center. Let's go find a movie." Sam dragged him past us, and gave Leo's arm a punch. Either she was saying 'you're welcome' or 'dipshit, why'd you piss off the hulk'.

"Donnie, let's talk." Leo nodded down the hall, and with that the brothers were gone.

"They're gonna go, you know." Layla sighed.

"There's nothing we can do, you know." I looked over at her.

"Yeah." She agreed. "We've been turned into sitting ducks, and we have no idea how the kids are doing."

"Sucks." I said.

"Mhmm." She frowned, letting silence cover us.

"How are you?" I asked. "With everything going on, that is."

She shrugged. "Like I said, we're sitting ducks."

I just looked at her. "Seriously, Lay."

She shrugged again. "This is my first run in all of the turtles' hectic adventures, at least the ones where the whole family gets involved. I'm worried about Mikey, Clem, and Lee. Michelangelo, he's just, he's strong, but the things people say to him…"

I hugged her. "He'll be okay. He has you and his brothers whether he thinks so or not. We'll get through this."

"How are you doing? Rora told me a little about what's going on."

"I'll survive." I forced a smile.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"They're gone!" Sam ran into my room with Layla and Aurora on her heels. "They fucking left!"

"Leo and Donnie too." Aurora added, calmer than Sam.

"Mikey didn't tell me anything, but it seemed like he and Raph were going their own way. I don't know what Leo and Donnie are doing." Layla said.

"They'll be fine, guys." I tried to reason with them.

"Then why do I have the feeling they're coming back with bad news?" Sam asked.

"Because you have yourself in a tizzy." I answered.

"I can't just sit here and wait for them." Layla said, stopping out of the room.

Sam was by the door, arms crossed, and swearing. Aurora had followed Layla, but in a calmer manner. I got out of bed, heading for the bathroom to get ready for whatever Bishop had planned today. After I was done, I walked out into the hallway to check on the teens. The four weren't in their room, so now it was a lot of wandering. Everyone was probably eating somewhere. Was there a cafeteria? Eventually, I found a map of the place and got myself to the cafeteria. Everyone, minus the turtles, Aurora, and Layla, were seated at a table eating breakfast, but there were a few more filling the table.

"Momma!" Hope came running up to me.

"Hope? What are you doing here?" I hugged her.

"We brought the kids here." Donnie and Leo stepped into the cafeteria.

Hope took my hand as we walked towards the table. "Why's that?" I asked, sitting down.

"Like you said before, we're a family and we need to stay together." Leo answered as Splinter joined the group.

"Then where's Uncle Raph and Uncle Mikey?" Kiyo asked.

"They're not here?" Leo asked and scoffed. "They're not here." I could almost hear him saying 'of course' in his mind.

I shook my head as Leo left the cafeteria and Donnie took Ellie. The teens chatted amongst themselves. While the rest of us stayed quiet, eating their food. I just glanced around at the others. The younger kids were making a mess and looking for their parents, Tarik and Chris were eating quietly (surprising for Tarik), and my kids were looking around as well. Yoshi, however, wasn't eating. I frowned and grabbed a bowl of cereal, setting it in front him. He looked up at me then back at the cereal, before sighing. I sat back in my seat and nodded at bowl. Yoshi slowly started eating the cereal, and I got up to leave. Maybe I can find out what's really happening here.

"There you are." Bishop walked up to me. "I have the antidote ready. Leonardo and Donatello just dropped off the needed ingredients."

"When do you want us to stop by?" I asked.

"After you and your son are done here."

" _Mom, I'm ready."_

I nodded. "We're ready."

Yasuo got up and walked up to me with Yoshi and Kiyomi following him. We were sent to a lab where two beds were set up. Each had a small medical table with syringes placed on them. Yasuo and I laid down on each bed and we were prepped for the injection, of course, I was used to this. This was something that was familiar to me, but this time it felt different as a doctor picked up the syringe. I wasn't scared. Chris and Leo were standing by the doorway as the substance was introduced into my bloodstream, which didn't hurt. Yasuo looked comfortable as well as his dose was given to him.

"We're going to keep you on bed rest for a few days." Bishop told me. "For your other son, Yoshi, we've set up counseling sessions for his depression, if that's okay with you."

I looked at Bishop for a second, starting to feel fatigue. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. Now, I will leave you two to rest." He said as he left.

Leo sat at the edge of my bed, stroking my hair.

"Did you find Raph and Mikey?" I asked, my words slightly slurred.

"Yes, they're fine. They did what they wanted to do and got a few essential parts of the machine without any problems." Leo reassured me.

"Good." My eyes started to close as Leo kissed my forehead.

"Sleep well, Love."

" _Have a great day!" I said cheerily as I said good-bye to another customer._

" _Is your boy coming?" One of the waitresses, Brooke, asked._

 _I nodded. "He's on his way."_

" _Well, when he gets here, don't worry about up here. Taylor and I could handle it." She said before going to check on her tables._

 _It was almost closing time, here at the pizzeria, and nightly chores were almost done. Chris was coming up to say good-bye. Today would be the last day I would see him until he goes off to boot camp and I start college. As I waited, staring out the window by the take out counter, I got nervous. Would he make it here in time? Would I have time to be with him until he has to leave? I could feel Taylor's eyes on me. Usually that bothered me, but now wasn't the time I'd be bugging. I was going to see Chris. A smile lit up my face as I thought about hugging him, kissing him. Dammit, I didn't want to let go, but I had to be strong. He would've done the same if it was me leaving. Sighing, I let my shoulders drop. Three months isn't that long…I've gone longer not seeing someone I care about. I could do this._

 _Suddenly, I saw Chris outside. My heart fluttered in excitement as I ran out the door and into his arms. He wore my favorite sweatshirt. Chris's arms were around me, holding me tight. When we pulled away it was only to see each other face to face. I smiled as he leaned in and kissed me. There are tables outside so we sat down to talk. We haven't seen each other for almost two weeks._

" _How have you been?" He asked taking my hands._

" _I'm better now." I smiled looking into his light eyes. "How about you? Your parents haven't been yelling too much at you, right?"_

 _He just looked at me._

 _I frowned. His parents aren't the greatest, let's leave it at that. He frowned slightly, so I changed the subject seeing Brooke and Taylor waving at us. "Here, I want to introduce you to my job family."_

 _So I led him inside, and he met the waitresses and the bartender. The entire time my hand was intertwined with his and my head was on his shoulder. After the introductions were passed around, Chris and I went around the corner of the restaurant. He hugged me again. The moment was perfect until a spider caught my gaze. I pulled Chris away, freaking out. Of course, he laughed at me and let me pull him. He then swooped me off my feet and held me princess style. I looked into his eyes as he lean in, kissing me. I was glad he stopped kissing me and let me down because I was starting to cry._

" _Now that, was a princess kiss." He smirked._

 _I giggled, but my emotions had other ideas. Tears burned my eyes as I hugged Chris. I didn't want him to see me cry. When I cry, I feel weak. He knew what I was doing and let go of me. His hand went to my face, gingerly catching a tear from rolling down my face._

" _When do you have to be back?" I asked not wanting to hear the answer._

 _He looked at his watch, shrugged, and answered. "Now."_

 _I nodded, preparing myself to leave him. "Okay." Guilt ate at me. He's always going out of his way to see me and even stayed out later than his parents wanted. I don't know, I feel bad I can't return the gesture._

" _Come on, I parked next to this junker car." He nudged me._

 _I laughed seeing that it was my junker. The kitchen guys were trying to fix one of their cars as we reached Chris's bike. I leaned against my car, looking at Chris. Memorizing everything about his appearance. He noticed me staring and stood in front of me, pressing me into the car a little more and placed another kiss on my lips. Then he went to his bike. Pausing for a moment, he took off his jacket and placed it over my shoulders like he always did with his jackets. I put my arms through and he zipped me up, kissing me again._

" _Be careful." I said, but it felt like I whispered it._

" _Yes dear." He smiled as he started to drive off._

" _I love you." I called after him._

" _I love you too." Chris answered as he rode away._

 _I watched as he left, it wasn't until he was out of my sight that I headed back inside. The kitchen guys asked if I was okay as I passed. I nodded, keeping my face away as I started to cry silently. Once I went inside, my mask was on. No more tears. No more weaknesses._

 _We finished cleaning up and I drove Taylor and I home. Opening the door, the ninja turtles were still here. Donnie and Leo were at the kitchen table and it sounded like Mikey was downstairs playing video games. I don't know where Raph was. Donnie and Leo looked over as we shut the door. Leo noticed Chris's jacket and frowned. I couldn't look at them. Chris was my Donnie. He's just so smart and curious, but he was my protector, my safe haven. Just like Leo is to me. Leo was standing and I grabbed his wrist. Leading him away from everyone, I made sure no one could see us. The coast was clear, so I threw myself at Leo. He put his arms around me as I sobbed._

" _I miss him already." I cried quietly._

" _I know you do, Lexa, I know." Leo held me close as I grieved for my boyfriend._

My eyes opened to Bishop's lab, but I didn't wake in a fit. I woke up like a normal person, just opening my eyes. Slowly sitting up, I let my memories piece themselves together. Everything that happened with the turtles was merging with my "new found life". I did graduate high school. The ceremony was filled with music and all of my friends were there, and Chris was there. I was so proud when he walked the stage. I stood up hooting and hollering for him. The turtles showed up when I got home that night, just as I remembered. They helped me see him. I was still attacked by the foot, but it was Chris that was with me when I was returned home to be patched up that first time. During recovery, I video chatted him, not draw. When I went to that hotel, Chris was already at boot camp. The rest seems to be the same other than my feelings for Leo. They took a little longer to grow because I was hesitant. I had Chris waiting for me, but I remember thinking about the kids. They'd have to stay with Leo. I know Chris would've taken them under his wing, but it was too dangerous. Plus, Chris was in the military and he could now focus more on that without having me as a distraction. I ran my fingers through my hair. It's all making sense. However, what do I do now? I'm married to Leo, but I love Chris. Scratch that, I love the both of them.

A figure shifted in the corner of the room, making me look up. I saw Chris fast asleep and Leo was sitting next to Yasuo, who was still sleeping.

"You love him still, don't you?" Leo asked.

I just looked at him confused as he turned to face me. "Your memory changed too."

He nodded. "What are we going to do about us?"

Those crystal orbs begged me to choose him. I pulled my eyes from his to look at Chris. Was he the same boy who would run miles to see me? Would he fully forgive me for leaving him? What if I chose Leo? Would Chris ever talk to me again?

"Think about it." He said before going back over to Yasuo, kissing the top of his head and leaving. "Just remember we have a family, and I know you never wanted your kids to have to witness what happens during a divorce."

Taken back from the comment, I watched Leo leave. Where the hell did that come from? Shaking my head, I looked at myself, and sighed contently when I was a turtle. Wait, turtle. How could I be with Chris? I wouldn't fit into society like this and put him in the constant danger this family gets into because of our appearances, besides he might not like how I look now. Am I right? I had a lot to think about. What did I want to risk? Years of marriage or a high school love? Either way it'll become a broken promise.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

I was able to sneak out of the room to go look for the rest of my family. This time as I walked down the halls, I felt better, happier. Despite everything that's going on, I had a smile on my face. The halls were spotted with workers as I walked with ease to the guest rooms. I walked into the kids' room and found Kiyo, Yoshi, Emi, and Hope sitting on the floor in the center of the room. They rushed towards me as I entered.

"How are you feeling?" Kiyo asked.

"Where's Yasuo?" Yoshi added.

"Is he okay?" Hope cried.

"I feel great. Yasuo is still sleeping, but he's okay." I answered all of their questions. "What have you four been up to while I was out?"

"We explored a bit." Emi answered.

"Dad's worried about you." Kiyo said.

"Now that you say that, everyone's been off." Yoshi said. "Uncle Donnie wasn't the same."

I shrugged it off for their sake. "Somethings have just changed with me going in the past, but we're all okay. Just some minor things were tweaked."

Emi narrowed her eyes, the same way Yasuo does when he's trying to get into someone's head. I kept her locked out only giving her details to satisfy her and back my claim. It worked and she backed off.

"So what did you guys find on your exploration?" I asked changing the subject.

"Just empty halls." Kiyo shrugged.

"Yeah, nothing too exciting." Hope agreed.

There was a knock at the door. We all turned to see who it was.

"Knock. Knock." Layla walked in with Clem and Lee in her arms. "Leo wants to see everyone for something."

I answered. "Okay."

We all went to wherever Leo wanted to talk. Layla led us to where he was and it ended up being my 'hideout'. Everyone stood around, letting the younger kids roam. Leo was at the front of the group and TJ and Chris were in the mix of our group. McKenna was nowhere to be found. I remember her coming in and out of the picture when we were friends. This was normal.

"Raph and Mikey had found a few pieces of the time machine our new person of interest is building. No doubt, they will be on their way here. That is if they were able to track Raph and/or Mikey." Leo paused. "I gathered us up to discuss what we all wanted to do."

"I'm going to add that we have people watching the scanners for any of Kellan's men." Donnie added.

"I say we find where they are building this and put an end to it." Raph shared.

"What about the kids?" Aurora asked. "Do we keep them here?"

"I don't trust Bishop." Sam crossed her arms. "I don't care about this 'new leaf' he's on, once bad, always bad."

"What if some of us stayed back?" Layla suggested.

"Who says we're leaving?" Kiyo joined the conversation.

"It may be the only way of stopping Kellan for good." Donnie answered the troubled teen and agreeing with Raph.

"Then how do we chose who stays and leaves?" Emi asked.

"Kid's got a point." Raph agreed.

"We have some out of commission." Aurora reminded us. "So it will be them and then someone to cover them."

"Who's out of commission?" Tarik asked.

I felt everyone's eyes on me.

"Yoshi, Yasuo, and as everyone is hinting at, me." I answered. "I'm feeling fine though. Just putting some final pieces together."

"Okay, so the kids, Yasuo, Yoshi, and Alexa?" Mikey shrugged.

"I'm okay to fight." I corrected, "Besides, it may help me, getting back into the action."

"Donnie?" Leo asked.

"I'll have to run some numbers with Bishop, but with the mutagen helping her, she'll be back to normal." Don adjusted his glasses.

"I could stay here." Aurora volunteered. "I usually stay behind anyway."

"I guess I will too, if I wasn't already counted as the one to stay." TJ stepped forward.

Leo nodded. "Fine, we hunt down Kellan, stop him, and leave some here."

Aurora could fight, but I didn't know about TJ.

"Shouldn't someone else give Rora some backup?" I asked.

Raph sighed. "Alright…I guess you guys can keep Mikey."

Mikey whined, but didn't argue against it too much. After all there were video games here.

"Now we're set." Leo announced and walked back into the maze of halls just beyond the door behind us.

Everyone either went to claim their kids or play with them. Sam walked up to me.

"What's going on with you and Leo?"

"Just, some of our memories or time line, whatever you want to call it, was changed and is making somethings between us difficult." I answered.

"Like what?"

I sighed. "Like my relationship with Chris actually happening. The relationship was woven in when he left for boot and Bishop had captured me."

"So now you have to choose who to leave." Sam understood.

I nodded. "When I was out, I relived some of those memories with Chris I didn't remember I lived. Now, I'm like 'wow, we were great', but then there's Leo who was there when Chris was gone and then who he is now. Leo was always there, but Chris was too. I connected the two together a lot before all of this, I remember that, but it's not making this easier."

"I get it." Sam listened. "I don't know Chris that well, but I know Leo will give you all the time in the world to decide. My opinion though, as a friend, is to think about the kids, but keep your needs in mind as well."

"Thank you, Sam." I smiled. "But, what would you do? If you were in this situation, that is."

She just looked at me for a second before glancing over at Raphael, who was watching his boys running around. "That's a hard one to answer," Sam sighed, "but if it was me, I'd stay with Raphael. Sure, it'll make the other guy upset, but what's so wrong with having him as a friend?"

I thought back to what Chris said. He was in a shit hole. He made it pretty obvious that he already felt betrayed.

"I hope that helps." She said before leaving.

"Not really." I mumbled before heading back to my room to get some rest. When I get up, maybe, I'll see if we're getting this fight into action. Plus, I have to figure out what this fight is about exactly because all I got is some looney toon trying to make another "Back to the Future" movie. Oh, and the dude can basically become any person he wants to be. It'll have to wait for after I get my shut eye.

" _Just one more sentence…and done!" I smiled as I talked to Chris in the library. "What do you think?" I asked turning his laptop towards him._

" _Which one is it?" He asked looking at the screen._

" _The really long one." I laughed._

 _He groaned, but read my chapter. Every once in awhile he'd nod and smile. "It's good."_

" _Thanks." I smiled._

" _What would you do if it was reality?" He asked. "If we were like we are now, but the events of your story are happening with it?"_

 _I turned to face him. Wow, that was deep and almost matrix like. "I don't know there are a lot of variables that would be different. Exactly what about?"_

" _Us." He answered._

 _I could feel the emotional dilemma that would cause. My eyes widened. "But, they are two different me. The Alexa in there doesn't know you, and if she did, she would realize how alike you and Leo are. In other words, she wouldn't be able to choose."_

" _I know I'm just that good-looking." Chris shrugged his shoulders._

 _I elbowed him, laughing. "Of course you are, Brainiac."_

I woke up to Leo walking towards to the door. Sitting up, I called out to him. He froze and looked slightly behind him without turning. He didn't acknowledge me so I got up and ran my fingers along his shell before going to his arm.

"I think we need to change our plan." I told him.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Because I believe that Bishop had accidentally mixed two dimensions together."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Only 2 more chapters left!**

Chapter 25

"What do you mean he merged two dimensions together?" Donnie asked me and Leo for the thousandth time.

"I mean, there's a separate dimension where we are the story. Chris and TJ and McKenna are a part of that." I then told Leo. "That's why I couldn't give you an answer about us because our relationship is what Chris and I had. I guess in the other world, I based us off of Chris and I. In other words, we have to build this time machine so we could fix this."

We had everyone here for this new discovery. So when Chris had joined I had pulled him to the side to tell him about this. I told him if my plan worked, then I would fix everything between us, or well, the other dimension of us. Chris wouldn't have to ever feel abandoned again. I won't ever make him feel as if I abandoned him. He then wouldn't have to be living with a douchebag roommate. We'll be together. Again, I looked over at him and mouthed an "I promise". He nodded.

"What have they completed?" Bishop asked, talking about Kellan and the time machine.

"Not much." Mikey answered. "It looked like a bunch of scrap metal."

We all looked at Raph to confirm and he nodded.

"What?" Mikey whined. "You guys don't trust me?"

Layla laughed. "I love you, but Mikey sometimes you can have quite the imagination, so we need a second opinion."

"So what's the plan?" Emi asked. "We steal the parts of the machine from Kellan."

"We build the machine." Kiyo added.

"We use it to fix the screw up in our time." Yoshi clarified.

"Then we destroy the time machine." Yasuo crossed his arms.

"Alright, then, first things first, we need to get our supplies." Leo announced.

"Great, but how?" Mikey said.

"We'll send a group in." Leo answered.

"I can send my troops in too." Bishop offered.

Leo nodded his thanks. "Everyone, you know what you need to do."

Then we all dispersed, except for me and Bishop. He looked at me through those dark glasses he always wore.

"You have questions, I presume?" He asked.

I nodded. "When did this all start? The dimension blending shit."

Bishop folded his hands together. "That TJ kid. It started with him showing up at the school during those parent-teacher conferences. How he ended up there, I have not one clue, but he was there and it changed everything."

"What we're doing now, will it change things? Set it right and put things back to normal?" I asked.

"We won't know until we have the machine here." He answered. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, why did you capture my family?"

"They are not capt-"

"I mean, before when I was sent to the other dimension." I interrupted.

"Kellan would've saw right through my plan to get your support to stop Kellan. I understood you out of all of them would not trust me. My plan was to use the machine to show you, I wanted to show you the truth. You needed to see that I've changed."

"You were going to send your guards on me." I argued.

"I had to put up an act. Make Kellan think I was still bad." Bishop paused. "Any more questions?"

"No." I frowned.

"Good. Then I suggest we get ready." Bishop turned. "There will be enough things for you to do here."

As much as I hated not being in battle with the turtles, I knew I couldn't risk being a burden on them. Everyone seemed pretty determined that I wasn't 100% better. This is for the better. After all, Yoshi had dealt with a lot, and now I can finally help him. That's where I was heading now, to Yoshi's room. I gave the door a soft knock, causing it to open. He wasn't in there. I guess they had started on his therapy sessions early. Before closing his door, I looked around inside. He already had projects going on. Usually, I'd be ecstatic about this, but I know. This isn't his love of inventing, this is guilt. Yasuo was still sleeping in the next room and Kiyomi was probably already set for the battle. I shuffled through the halls towards Yoshi and Chris ran into me.

"How are you doing?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I feel fine."

A moment of silence covered us.

"Do you think this will work?" He asked suddenly.

I studied his face. His eyes were large and shone brighter than they have before, I saw Leo in them. Opening my mouth to answer, Chris spoke first.

"I know, you can't really know for sure…"

"It will." I countered. "It will work."

"How do you know?" He asked.

"I just have that feeling." I answered. "You should get going though. Leo may leave without you."

Chris nodded as he started to walk off. "Right."

"Be careful." I called after him, without turning.

He didn't answer for a second. "Always am."

As I started walking again, I felt something telling me there was something he always said to me when I'd tell him to be careful or do something. My head ached slightly before easing when the phrase echoed in my mind. I smiled. " _Yes, dear."_

(Leo POV)

"Hanging in there, Bro?" Mikey asked me.

"Yes, Michelangelo." I answered without hesitation as I brushed past my youngest brother.

"No, you're not." He called after me.

Sighing, I paused. "Then why'd you ask."

Mikey caught up to me. "I didn't want it to seem like I was prying."

I clenched my jaw, Mikey was really going to test me. His hand clapped down on my shoulder.

"I know that everything is probably really frustrating and annoying, but we'll fix it. We always win." Mikey laughed.

I shook my head at his naïve attitude. Unfortunately, there wasn't any way to stop it, no matter what you tell him. Continuing my path away from him, I prepared myself for battle. I had to fight together with the boy who left my wife.

(Alexa POV)

I sat in the waiting room as Yoshi finished up his session. To my surprise, he seemed okay. Okay as in he went up to me and gave me a hug before walking away. He hasn't done that since his meltdown when he woke up. Staring after him, I was confused. Whatever specialists Bishop have here are miracle workers.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: So yeah, when I wrote this the first time, it didn't save. -_- So I had to rewrite it...yeah soI hope this flows nicely into the next chapter! Let me know how I did. Enjoy : )**

Chapter 26

"Chris?" I reached towards him to gain his attention.

He looked upset, but I had his focus.

"Do you understand all of this?" I asked.

"Weird dimension shit." He shrugged.

I crossed my arms, self-conscious. "If we can get this machine here and get it to work we can send you back to the time you got out of boot. I'll be in Tennessee and you will visit me. Your life, our life, will be back. You won't have to go back to your old life. All will be well."

His frown deepened and without responding he turned to leave.

I watched him take a few steps away, but I couldn't let him leave. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him back and hugged him. This was so familiar and foreign all at the same time. His hands were around me, one cradled my head, and held me tight.

"I promise we'll make it." I told him and let him leave.

Leo appeared suddenly. I greeted him with a kiss. He was tense and serious.

"Leo, whether you like it or not, he is apart of me. Just like the other turtles are apart of you." I touched his arm. "This doesn't change us. He just has a different version of me, that's all."

"Then there's nothing going on between you two?" He asked.

"No." Not this me.

He nodded and kissed me. "Okay, I believe you."

I laid my hand on his cheek with a smile. "Be safe."

"Of course." He responded with a hug.

Internally, I sighed. Chris and I had said that before. Ugh, this weird deja vu shit is still there. I thought the antidote was supposed to fix that. I brushed it off. Leo and I finished out goodbye and he left. I roamed the empty halls alone. My mind wandering to my family, who were marching to the battle of their lives. Bishop will keep me in the loop, and I will know if anything happens, when it happens.

(Donnie POV)

It was strange. Our current predicament was the cause of so much stress and tension. However, we worked smoothly, just as a finely oiled machine. There were no questions, challenges for leadership, just cooperation. Finally, some peace.

As we arrived at our first checkpoint, Leo, Sam, and a handful of Bishop's men successfully extracted the target, undetected. It was too easy. The next checkpoint had more guards, but I was easily able to mess around with the security. Not only was the security taken care of, Chris came to use. He used the PA system to lure the guards to a meeting room for an unexpected change to protocol. Layla, Raph, Kiyo, and I were going in as said announcement was being delivered. I repeatedly went over the plan in my head to distract me from the silent standoff. When we were going from mission to mission, this is what occurred. Leo and Chris were glaring at eachother as if they were challenging each other to break. From what I hear, Chris is as stubborn as my brother. I understood this challenge. They were both in love with the same girl. However, they are, also, in love with two different girls. Let me explain, this girl is Alexa. Just as my brothers and I have 'counterparts', so does she. This machine we are attempting to build will fix this, but it was also the cause. Unfortunately, for Alexa, she's had these two experiences woven into one. That is the reason she can't chose who to let go of. It drove her to insanity, and the depression from her healing abilities magnified that.

The two, Leo and Chris, need to sort this out because they are going to be extracting the final part. This was the most guarded base, out of the ones we visited, and that is why it is only them going. Leo insisted on going solo, but Chris refused to stay back. As much as I hate the plan, we'll be outside in the getaway vehicle. If they need help, we'll be here.

"Donatello." Leo's stern order rang in my ears. "Head out."

Giving my brother a curt nod, I exited the truck. The air was muggy and moist, Raph rolled his shoulders, universal Raph sign for 'why aren't we hitting someone'. Leo put me in charge of the group, which sure as hell made Raph happy. As we started walking, so did Raph's mouth.

"What the hell has Leo's shell in a knot?" He shouted.

"You can't be that brickheaded, can you?" Kiyo countered, earning a snort from Raph. "It's this whole thing with mom and Chris."

Again, snort.

"Well, he's pathetic. They're both pathetic!" Raph swung his arms in front of himself.

"Think, Raph." I cut off his tantrum. "Alexa couldn't choose between them because she has both her and her counterpart inside her soul. Just think about Sam. What if there was another guy from a different universe? And when you told her to choose him or you...and she doesn't answer? What would that do to you? How would that affect Sam?"

Everyone was silent, unable to comprehend what I said. All of the conflicts we've conquered, this was going to leave a scar. The entire family is going to need time to heal.

(Alexa POV)

"They got the first part." Bishop cracked his fingers, as he leaned back in his desk chair. "Team 1 is on their was to the extraction point."

I stood next to my ex-enemy. If you would have told me I was be working with Bishop, willingly, I might've beat the shit out of you. In my time at his HQ, he's proved he has changed. Bishop, not only, saved me, but my kids. I don't know if Yoshi would've been able to pull through his depression without the help of professionals. Bishop has his men helping us and he's guiding them through another enemy's headquarters. It's unbelieveable.

"Go straight through. We still have control of the system." Bishop spoke to Donnie's group. "Everyone is moving towards the 'meeting'. It's a go for the extraction."

The line was quiet for a few minutes before suddenly erupting with sounds of fighting. My hands were clenched into tight balls; my nails were cutting into my palms.

"Donatello, do you copy?" Bishop's voice was calm, but even I could tell he was nervous. "What's going on?"

The signal came in choppy. "We...bushed..send...up…"

"What? What did he say?" I asked, trying to swallow my panic.

"Bishop, they need two more groups out there! Dad and Chris went to the next part. They need people there to secure it!"

Bishop slouched. "There isn't anyone left."

I felt Yasuo's anger roll off of him in waves. "You said you could cover us."

"I was able to cover you!" He shouted, slamming his hands on the desk. "Kellan found a majority of my fucking troops!" He shook his head. "He convinced them to work for , Kellan could've been here. He could know what we're planning."

"Dad knew that." Yasuo sighed. "He and Chris didn't want to risk losing the part. They recognized some of the soldiers and then shit went down, and they took their window."

They went off on their own without any backup? Did they at least tell anyone? Did Kellan know?

"I'm going after them." I went to leave, but was stopped by Bishop. "Don't try to stop me."

"I'm not letting you leave...without me and some gear." He smiled.

"I'm going to." Yoshi walked into the room.

With some hesitation, I nodded and stormed out of the room. We rushed around gathering gear and supplies to join the fight. My heart raced in anticipation. I was back, and they'll be scared that I am.

(Leo POV)

Chris and I were in front of the last pickup spot. Just as I suspected, guards were everywhere. We were going to be here for a while trying to find an opening in. Quietly, I leaned over to Chris.

"We're not going to get anywhere, unless we can find a way through."

Chris glanced over at me and quickly advanced forward. The guards didn't notice him, they were completely oblivious. It's like we were in one of Mikey's video games...wait, no I don't even want to give the universe another option to screw with my family. I followed the soldier, he had years of experience in the military, he knew how these guys worked. He's leading the way. That's exactly what he did until we got inside.

"Alright, lead the way, Fearless." Chris smirked.

I brushed off the annoying nickname and started down the hallway, which was dimly lit. Lucky for us. Other than the swarm of guards outside, this place was quite incognito. Good for them. I had my swords unsheathed as we traveled deeper into the base. As the sound of footsteps started to echo, we hid. We waited for them to pass.

"Did the boss say what we're guarding?"

The guards walked by as they spoke of nonsense. I listened to their conversation, and I couldn't help but think how idiotic they were. No matter, they will most likely use lethal force if spotted. When the coast was clear, we continued onwards. Things were running smoothly, until I heard a very loud and very familiar voice.

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

(Alexa POV)

"Get the fuck out of the way!"

We were fighting for a good hour, and wasting time! There weren't any alarms, but they just kept coming. We were barely making a dent, but I knew we were close to Leo and Chris. I could feel it. Even more of a reason that we needed to lose their attention. Ya-ya, however, seemed to have a plan and know where Leo was. I followed Yasuo and found Leo and I was right, he was not happy. Well, neither was I.

"What are you doing here?" He almost shouted.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." I frowned. "Why would you two just storm out on your own, and with no backup. It's reckless. What if you two didn't make it out?"

I saw Yasuo flinch slightly. Leo saw it too and frowned, he knew what it would do to the family.

"We don't have time for this." Chris stepped forward. "Kellan knows we are here now."

"Let's get moving." Leo resumed his position as leader, the previous look of regret gone.

Stepping into autopilot, I followed. With everything happening how did he think we would overcome that. My other version of myself kept nagging about loved ones leaving and dying.

' _I can't lose him again.'_ A quiet voice pead. ' _I need him. I'm losing my mind.'_

My eyes were closed as I sighed. Damn, we need to get this machine built and my friend in the correct dimension.

' _Who was that?'_ Ya-ya asked

' _Who?'_ Did he hear her too?

' _That other voice? They sounded desperate.'_

' _She won't be soon.'_ I answered and he understood.

' _Your alternative self.'_

I nodded.

' _Are we close?'_ Yasuo asked.

"You'll know when we are." Chris answered. "This is going to be heavily guarded. When you start seeing guards, then yes, we're close."

A few minutes later, guards started to show up, and so did the action.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Hey internet has been weird so hopefully this update isn't too late. Here's the end, this story took me so long to write and I hope the wait was worth it!**

Chapter 27

We stood back as the crowd around us closed in. It was six against dozens, we were painfully outnumbered. Yasuo and Yoshi were by my side. Even though they had their 'game faces' on, I could tell they were scared. Yoshi channeled his fear into a shield around us, protecting us from any danger.

Finally, the battle began. A surge of adrenaline coursed through my body, and I couldn't help but smile at the sensation. I missed this. My family instantly fell into step with each other. We were using each other's strikes and dodges to attack. Leo had ducked under an incoming sword and Yoshi used Leo's shell as a ramp. Yoshi launched himself into the air, formed a shield around himself, and collided into the group below. Chris started to join us in our mid-battle antics, collaborating with us. With Chris in the loop, the battle was getting easier. Unfortunately, my previous rush was disappearing. Now, I was aware of how tried my muscle were and my attacks were slower. The guards must've noticed because they targeted me. I switched my battle tactic to the defensive, trying to block and evade their strikes. It was going well, until a sword got me between my plastron and carapace. I held back a cry of pain. Over the heads of the group around me, my family was trying to get to me. Another strike carved into my arm, then my cheek. The cutting turned to impacts. I desperately tried to stay on my feet, but their attacks were merciless. I was on the ground moments later. My hands were held down so I couldn't protect myself, but I heard a greatly enraged battle cry and bodies started flying. Leo was taking the guards on by himself as the others pulled me to my feet.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Chris asked.

"He needs this." I said, shaking my head.

"Let's get moving." Yasuo started to walk away. "He'll catch up."

We all followed and I noticed that my side wasn't hurt anymore, even the bruises were gone! Later. This will have to wait until later. He should've told me. I looked at the others, and Yasuo was the only one without a scratch on him. Unlike Ya-ya and I, everyone else was pretty beat up. My question, though, is why did I feel so tired and weak before? Is there some sort of lag?

' _We healed?'_

' _We'll talk to Bishop later.'_

All was quiet again as we approached our target. You would think there would be more guards, but no we were alone. Leo had caught up to us at this point, but he was still fuming. Bishop confirmed to us that the extraction team was ready for us, so we start to prep the part for transport. The rest of the family was here too.

"Where is he?" Kiyomi snapped as she and the rest of the team arrived.

"Dad should be left alone right now." Yoshi told her.

"Like hell. Where is he?" She shouted this time, drawing Leo out from his hiding spot. "What were you thinking? Coming here alone!"

"Everything was under control." Leo calmly countered.

"It would've been even more 'under control'," She air quotes with her fingers, "with the rest of the team. You didn't think of the team! Mom, Yasuo, and Yoshi aren't supposed to be here, however, here they are. They had to come and save your shell!" Her eyes started to shimmer with fresh tears. "What if you didn't make it out? Where would that leave our family?"

Leo collected Kiyo in an embrace, all tension and anger was gone. He realized what he did. "I'm sorry."

I was so consumed by the scene in front of me, I didn't realize the final part was almost ready to go.

"Enough of this sappy shit, let's get out of here before something goes wrong." Raph whined.

So we didn't aggravate the Grumpy Raph and left. There were no explosions that chased us. No one was shouting out of cars with sirens. We sat in a car and drove to safety. It was a comforting feeling, but it was unusual. Leo seemed to feel the same way. Every so often, Leo would look behind us. The ride was boring as we pulled up to Bishop's base. The last piece was taken and Donnie raced inside with on of Kellan's former scientists to start building this machine; Chris supervised. Sam and Layla went to check on the kids and the rest of us lingered by where all of the construction was happening.

"So, is there a version of me here?" Tarik asked as he stood awkwardly next to me.

"In a way." I shrugged. "You're like Mikey." But too distant to be him.

"Yup, that's how you guys labeled me." He got quiet and walked off.

I remember hurting him, and he stopped talking to me. He was my friend and I never wanted that to happen. My alternative-self shouted at me that i've done plenty to do just that. There's a lot of guilt and regret in her voice, but how do I fix it? I only I knew.

"Alexa." Bishop called from behind me.

I frowned as I faced him. "You gonna explain why I insta-healed myself back there?"

He sighed in aggravation. "I don't know why."

"Why didn't I heal in the middle of the fight?"

"I have to study up on it." Bishop's expression was stern when he spoke. "You will get your answers." He then relaxed as the situation was ignored. "This will be over soon."

I nodded.

"Will this alliance last?"

"Only time will tell." I replied. Leo will be fine with that. After all, he was the one who started this alliance.

Eventually, Bishop joined Donnie and the scientist. The machine was really coming together well, but the scientist was getting annoying. Donnie had that look on, like when Mikey is by him while he's working. This scientist has been going completely overboard with the documenting, and therefore, delaying the completion time. He seemed off, though. I wasn't the only one who noticed this.

' _Mom, we have a problem.'_

(Yasuo POV)

' _What's wrong?'_ Mom's voice was frantic, but when I glanced over at her, she looked bored.

' _That scientist is Kellan.'_

Mom instantly went to Dad, pulling him out of the room. Finding a seat, I put my head down. I had to dig deeper into Kellan's mind. Before I couldn't hear anything, but I remember his energy. He's on guard, so he's going to be to tap into. I have to focus…

' _It's almost complete! With the energy this machine can create, I can wipe out anyone or anything my mind can think of. This family isn't noticing anything, not even my annoyance. I cannot afford to lose any of this information. If the need be, I have to rebuild this.'_

I gasped. This is not good. Sitting up, I regained my composure and went to find my parents, but my path was interrupted. My newly-found sister, Emi, pulled me into a closet.

"Did you hear him?" She whispered with wide eyes.

I nodded. "We need to stop him."

"Yes...yeah, we do." She fiddled with her fingers before quick grasping my shoulders. "There's something we can do, but we need Kiyo and Yoshi."

"We can't keep Mom and Dad out of this." I argued. Dad will have my shell.

"It'll be too complicated with them involved. Yasuo, please, there's something you and I can do. We can stop Kellan for good without harming him or locking him up." Emi rambled.

I didn't know what to think of this. "What do we do?"

"Persuade him."

"Persuade him?" I yelled. She thought this was a joke.

"No I don't, and I meant, mind control. With our powers, we can do this. I've done it a few times, but it's not easy." She started. "You can't have a single ounce of doubt, eye contact is essential, but contact is vital."

"That's where Kiyo and Yosh comes in." I concluded. "Yoshi will put up a shield around us and Kellan, and if he can't keep the shield up, Kiyo will make a ring of fire to trap him."

"Almost what I had in mind." Emi shrugged. "Yoshi can manipulate anything in his shields. Think of it like a vacuum pack. Kiyo will be our distraction, which can take a shape of a fire."

"We need the rest of the team here, now." I ordered.

"They already know, and are heading to Kellan. You get to him. I'll go deal with our parents, then join you." She spun on her heel towards the door. "Good luck, mindreader."

I smiled before following her out the door, then going our separate ways. When I found my brother and sister, we hung around, acting natural.

' _Emi told you what you can do?'_ I asked Yoshi.

He nodded as he pretended to admire the machine.

' _Are you ready?'_

They responded by getting into position. Now, it was up to me to get close enough to Kellan to make some sort of contact without any suspicion. I approached him and he turned to face me. Nodding my head, I looked at his work with curiosity.

"You're the blue one's son, the mind reader." He accused.

Did he know? "Yeah, but no 'mindreading' is allowed outside of training or missions." Honesty can be the best cover sometimes.

"A little inconvenient, don't you think?" He was typing away on a keyboard.

"At first, when I was younger." I cleared my throat. "I came over to ask if I could observe what you're doing." Shrugging, I continued, "Gotta stay ahead of my brother."

Kellan smiled. "Certainly! I'd love to educate a young mind."

He got to work, mumbling numbers and theories. Carefully, I'd move closer, watching his body language. If he's relaxed enough, it'll make it easier for Yoshi to put the shield up. Giving my brother the signal, Kellan was forced to turn towards me. I gripped his wrists firmly, staring into his eyes. Emi approached and laid her hands on me and Kellan, we spoke in unison.

"You will leave and destroy your hideouts. Do not leave anything from your past experiments unharmed. Leave after everything is gone, and forget. Forget about your experiments, your powers, you intentions of world control. You will become a clean slate."

His eyes glazed over, unfocused, and Yoshi let the shield drop. Kellan started to toss his research into the shredder and smashed his camera. Everything was being destroyed. When he finished, he stood in front of us, shaking.

"I-I must go." He stuttered, stumbling out.

Uncle Donnie walked towards the retreating scientist. "Where is he going? What did you do?"

"He's ending this. We told him to." I answered.

"That was Kellan. He disguised himself with his weird shifting ability." Kiyomi clarified.

"Yasuo and I can control minds. It's apart of our telepathy." Emi added.

We were attacked with questions. 'How'd you know?' 'Are you sure it worked?' 'Are you okay?' Even though there were repeats, we answered everyone. Eventually, they stopped and got back to work, except for Dad. He ushered us aside, and I knew were in for a lecture. We immediately kneeled in front of him as his gaze burned into us.

"You four better have a good explanation for deliberately disobeying the rules. Keeping myself and your uncles informed about any plans, involves said rules." His frown was very pronounced on his face as he looked at me. "Yasuo."

I kept my eye contact with my father. "If we would have told you, Kellan would have started to get suspicious. He knew of my gift, so if I was going around talking to you all, flags would have raised. Emi told us about what else we could do with our abilities. I used my mind control and Yoshi can vacuum pack anything in his shield. Kiyomi was our back up. Her flame could have trapped Kellan if he didn't respond to the compulsion. Everything was under control."

Dad stared down at us, his eyes reflected disapproval. "What if he didn't respond and got past Kiyomi?"

"We knew we had more back up, you and our uncles would have jumped in." I answered confidently.

I saw Dad's lip twitch. "My students, you have done well today. Even though I was not involved, you were able to handle the situation yourselves. As much as I don't want to accept it; I must. You are a team now, and have no need for your uncles nor I to constantly be hovering over your shoulders. As long as you have each other and your phones, you can go out on your own patrols and outside training."

We buzzed with excitement and pride. Dad motioned for us to stand and held his arms out. We raced into his embrace.

"I'm so proud of you four." He whispered.

(Alexa POV)

The rest of the family had joined us as Donnie finished the machine. Chris had slipped, calling it a TARDIS (not mine, don't worry Whovians. I'm not taking the Doctor's machine). He loved Doctor Who. Leo had finished talking to the teens. They were now allowed to roam by themselves. We agreed on giving them this privilege sometime this year, since they were sixteen, and when they proved they would be fine. With what they pulled today, we knew they were ready. Their training was tested today and they passed. We couldn't be more proud.

"Everyone the portal is set." Donnie announced.

Gathering around we said our good-byes. I hugged Tarik as he walked towards the portal. He waved at everyone and stepped through. Donnie flipped some switches and motioned for Chris to head out, but McKenna appeared. Where did she come from? No idea, that's how it went. She said good-bye to the turtles, but strolled past me. She was gone.

"Chris, you're next."

As usual, Chris was his polite self, and shook hands, embraced, and thanked everyone, even the kids. They were pretty upset when he did say good-bye to them. I guess, he snuck some time with them. Chris then walked up to me, trapping me in an embrace.

"I promise everything will right. Stay safe." I told him. "Please."

He chuckled. "Of course. Thank you for everything."

"Of course." I smiled as those salty beads burned my eyes.

When we let go, I kissed his cheek. He smiled and went through the portal. Donnie shut it down as a hand rested on my shoulder. I put my hand over it, knowing it was Leo, as I stood frozen for a moment. All the good this machine has done. Yes, this was just like the portal at home, but this was much more powerful. This one can travel through time. I reminisce on our previous encounter with portals and dimensions. Portals allowed my life to become intertwined with the turtles, it helped me escape Bishop...Wait, our getaway from there was too easy, almost assisted.

"I need to find Bishop." I squeezed Leo's hand as I walked away.

Bishop wasn't far away. He was sitting in a chair with another across from him. He silently offered the seat. I accepted by sitting. How'd he know I was coming?

"What questions do you have?" He asked.

"Were you in charge of the experiments that created my kids?"

He shook his head. "It was Kellan. He was the reason I changed. When your treatment started to improve was because Jackson and I convinced him the specimen wouldn't survive. Your due date was carefully planned. Kellan had a month long trip, and we had started your pregnancy so your due date would fall during that month. We had to get you out of there. When I found out about Jackson's connection with the Utroms, I had him talk to them about using their transporter to get you and the turtles out. Unfortunately, Kellan found him and injected him with a serum that drove him insane. That is when you found him and killed him."

I couldn't believe it.

"When I discovered Kellan had your daughter and she survived, I put her in a program to train her in ninjitsu. Then I found Splinter sneaking in, so I lessened the security by her room." Bishop finished. "Do you have anymore questions?"

I shook my head. "No, thank you." My mind was racing.

(Chris POV)

I stumbled as the portal dropped me. Where was I? Grasping my surroundings, I noticed a small house that was a mix of modern and country. A large field was in the back with a barn. Alexa and I spoke about something like this. I smiled, was this real? Walking to the wooden door, I knocked. Immediately, the door opened, revealing an older Alexa. She was in pajamas, an old t-shirt and Cryaotic pants.

"Chris…" Alexa threw her arms around me as she sobbed into my shirt.

"I'm here." I whispered as I rested my chin on her head.

"I've missed you so much." She cried. "So much has happened with the adoption."

Adoption?

"The kids are so excited. Especially, Stacy."

Kids? My smile grew as a warm sensation filled my body. "Looks like we have a lot to talk about. I know I have so much to tell you."

A greyhound whimpered with excitement as it kissed my hand. I laughed. This was how my life was supposed to be like. This was real.

(Alexa POV)

Donnie finally finished collecting some data about us and the machine, and had it packed into cars. We were heading to Bishop's private plane. The kids were excited about this, but it was late and they were tired. I held Leo's hand as we walked towards the plane. The kids walked/were carried in front of us. Yoshi had Hope, she was asleep, her arm was swinging over his shoulder.

"We should keep this." Leo suddenly told me, holding me to the side.

"And what is this that we should keep?"

"Our alliance." He made me face him. "Think about it. All of the opportunities the kids can have without having to hide; an education, medical treatment, a career. There's nothing they can't get."

A smiled at his plan, holding his hands. "Then what do you suggest? We leave the sewers?"

He sighed, meeting my eyes with incredible sincerity. "Yes."

 **A/N: Well there you have it! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing! I'm going to try and get the next Bailey Stark story out soon. I decided not to do the Cryaotic fic, sorry y'all.**


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